Ukraine issued on Thursday August 10, a strong call for civilians residing near the northeastern front line to evacuate, as Russia escalated its efforts to capture territory that had been previously taken during the ongoing conflict.
Ukraine urged civilians near the northeastern front line to evacuate on Thursday as Russia ramped up an assault to capture territory already seized once during the conflict.
Kupiansk and the surrounding areas of Ukraine’s Kharkiv region were recaptured by Kyiv’s forces in September but Moscow has since pushed back into the region.
The warning came as Russia’s defense ministry announced its soldiers had “improved their position” along the front line near the city, after reporting advances earlier in the week.
In the southern city of Zaporizhzhia, a Russian strike on a civilian building killed at least one person and wounded nine others on Thursday, Ukrainian officials said.
One resident in the small town of Kivsharivka just outside Kupiansk said she was preparing to evacuate with her children, while her husband refused to leave in order to care of his elderly mother.
In Russia, the governor of the Bryansk region said on Thursday that two people had been killed after Ukraine shelled the small village of Chausy, about five kilometers from the border.
Russian regions bordering Ukraine have repeatedly accused Kyiv’s forces of indiscriminate shelling that has damaged infrastructure and caused civilian deaths.
Ukraine launched a highly anticipated counter-offensive in June after stockpiling Western weapons but it has acknowledged difficult battles as it struggles to make headway.
Moscow said earlier on Thursday it downed 11 Ukrainian drones nearing the Crimean peninsula and two heading for Moscow, in the latest in a wave of attacks targeting Russia and Russian-held territory.
Khalil Wakim, with AFP
