The town of Kurakhove, which once had a population of 18,000, has been reduced to ruins in recent months. The question today is whether this will open the road to Pokrovsk, an important logistics center for Ukraine on the Eastern Front?
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Russia says its forces have captured Kurakhove in Ukraine’s Donetsk region, a town that has become a main focus for Moscow’s forces in recent months as they intensified attacks in the region .
Ukrainian forces defending Kurakhove, however, rejected this claim, while acknowledging that Russian forces were attacking urban areas. “Measures to identify and destroy enemy assault groups trying to infiltrate our combat formations are underway,” the local military command said on Telegram.
Kourakhove, which once had 18,000 inhabitantswas reduced to ruins as Russian troops advanced to encircle and occupy what remained of it.
A stronghold of the Ukrainian army on the eastern front line in the partially occupied Donetsk region, Kurakhove has an industrial zone, a thermal power plant and a reservoir, and lies on a highway connecting the east and southern Ukraine.
In November, the Associated Press reported that there were likely between 7,000 and 10,000 people in the city. The city suffered incessant attacks from artillery, multiple rocket launchers, powerful guided bombs and drones that shattered buildings.
The Ukrainian monitoring group DeepState, which tracks the front line using open sources, showed that most of Kurakhove was indeed under Russian control.
The US think tank Institute for the Study of War (ISW) reported on Monday night that Russian forces carried out offensive operations near Kurakhove, to the northwest, west and southwest of the city.
Kurakhove would be the first major town to fall into Russian hands after the capture of Avdiivka and Vouhledar last year.
Push towards Pokrovsk
Moscow’s forces have focused their efforts on Kurakhove in recent months, making the city one of the hottest and most devastated sectors of the front.
The town is located about twenty kilometers north of Vouhledar, occupied by the Russians, and more than 30 kilometers south of Pokrovsk, a key town on the front line, which is undoubtedly the main objective of the efforts of the Kremlin in eastern Ukraine.
As an extremely important logistics hub for Kyiv’s forces in this region, Pokrovsk has played a crucial role in Moscow’s overall goal since 2014, which is to seize the entire Donetsk region.
Despite officials’ appeals, as of mid-December, approximately 300,000 civilians remained in the Donetsk region, including 54,000 living directly in an active war zone, according to the Donetsk military administration.
Biden administration set to announce final ‘substantial’ arms package for Ukraine
Biden administration expected to announce massive, definitive arms aid for Ukraine as part of Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin’s visit to Germany THURSDAY to meet with representatives of about 50 partner countries that have come to Ukraine’s defense since Russia’s invasion nearly three years ago, two senior defense officials said.
These officials did not specify the exact amount of aid, but they indicated that it is expected to be “substantial,” although it will not include all of the approximately $4 billion remaining in funding authorized by Congress in favor of Ukraine. There would likely be “more than two billion dollars” left that Mr. Trump’s new defense team could provide to Ukraine if it wanted, the officials said Tuesday in a briefing with reporters traveling with Mr. Austin .
Mr. Austin’s trip to Ramstein Air Base will be his final meeting with the group he organized to come to Ukraine’s defense after Russia’s invasion in February 2022. Together, these countries have provided more than $126 billion in weapons, military training and assistance. These packages include millions of munitions, advanced fighter jets, air defense systems, counter-drone systems and even tanks.
ADVERTISEMENTThe United States provided $66 billion of that total.
The measures announced Thursday will be drawn from existing stockpiles, with the aim of delivering most of the weapons promised to Ukraine by the time Mr. Trump is sworn in, one of the defense officials said.
On December 30, the administration announced a separate $1.25 billion aid packagepart of a series of aid announcements aimed at providing as much military assistance as possible to Ukraine before President Joe Biden leaves office. Officials said that about 80 to 90 percent of all promised equipment has already been supplied to Ukraine.
