Russian forces are advancing faster in eastern Ukraine than they have done for a long time, taking several square kilometers per day, President Vladimir Putin said on Monday as Moscow's forces tried to smash through a major Ukrainian defensive line.
Russian forces, which control 18% of Ukraine, have been advancing in eastern Ukraine since the failure of Kyiv's 2023 counter-offensive to achieve a major breakthrough.
Despite a major Ukrainian incursion into Russia's Kursk region that began on Aug. 6, the numerically stronger Russian army has in recent weeks been thrusting relatively swiftly though settlements in eastern Ukraine on the approach to the strategically important city of Pokrovsk.
"We have not had such a pace in the offensive in Donbas (region) for a long time," Putin told children at Secondary School No. 20 in Kyzyl, Tuva, about 4,500 km (2,800 miles) east of Moscow.
"Now we are not talking about moving 200 or 300 meters (660 or 1,000 feet) forward ... The Russian armed forces are already bringing territories under control not by 200-300 meters but by square kilometers."
Pro-Russian military bloggers said on Monday that Russian forces were now fighting in the eastern Ukrainian towns of Selydove and Ukrainsk. There was no immediate comment from Ukraine on the reported Russian advance.
Yuri Podolyaka, an influential Ukrainian-born, pro-Russian military blogger, said that intense battles were underway in Selydove, about 20 km (12 miles) south of Pokrovsk, and in Ukrainsk, about 14 km (nine miles) south of Selydove.
He said both sides were pushing forces into the battles for the towns, which had populations of over 20,000 and 10,000 respectively before full-scale war began in February 2022.
The pro-Russian blogger Rybar also said that fighting was going on in both towns. Russian state news agency TASS said that Ukrainian forces had been driven out of a part of Selydove.
By pushing south towards the town of Kurakhivka, Russian forces are seeking to break through Ukrainian defensive lines while increasing their sway over the Pokrovsk-Donetsk road and encircling a chunk of territory, Russian bloggers said.
Russia has been trying to expel Ukrainian forces from its southern Kursk region after Kyiv's Aug. 6 incursion, which was designed partly to pressure Russian generals to scramble forces from other parts of the eastern front in Ukraine.
Russian forces have taken control of the village of Skuchne in the eastern Donetsk region, RIA news agency cited Russia's Defense Ministry as saying on Monday.
