kyiv claims successful counterattack in eastern city of Nyurk

A Ukrainian brigade claimed on Friday to have regained control from the Russians “of a part” from the town of Niou-Iork during a successful counterattack in this locality of its region of Donetsk (east), a rare Ukrainian advance in this area for months.

The Russian army claimed on August 20 the capture of this small town, presented by Moscow as an important logistical platform for Ukrainian troops and which had around ten thousand inhabitants before the Russian invasion launched in February 2022.

On Friday, the Ukrainian Azov Brigade announced on Telegram to have succeeded “to regain control of a part of Niou-Iork and to unblock” Ukrainian soldiers “surrounded by enemy forces”. “At the time the brigade was deployed to the sector, the situation on the front line was catastrophic”the unit stressed, while ensuring that it was able to «stabiliser».

“At present, the situation remains tense. The Russians are carrying out up to 15 assaults per day in the brigade’s area of ​​responsibility. Despite the fierce fighting, our soldiers are holding the line and successfully counterattacking.”Azov said.

New York City rechristened in 2021 by Kyiv

The city of Nyurk had been near the front line since 2014, when Russia instigated a conflict between kyiv and the separatists it supported in Ukraine’s Donbass basin. The story of the city’s name is a mystery, but it was marked on maps as New York in the 19th century.

The Soviet authorities renamed it Novgorodskoye (“New City”) in 1951 for ideological reasons, before kyiv renamed it Nyuk-York in 2021. The Ukrainian army, which is short of personnel and weapons, particularly due to delays in Western military aid, is in difficulty in Donbass, on the eastern front, and has lost a number of localities there since the end of 2023.

Ukraine launched a surprise incursion into Russia’s Kursk border region in August, with the aim of diverting some of the Russian troops fighting in the east to the area, but the plan does not appear to have worked and Russian pressure on Kiev’s forces in the east is continuing. Russian President Vladimir Putin said Thursday that the conquest of Ukraine’s Donbass was “the number one priority” for Russia.