Ukrainian authorities have issued an urgent order to families with children to evacuate the eastern city of Pokrovsk, where the Russian army is bearing down fast despite a lightning Ukrainian incursion into Russia’s Kursk region.

Local authorities said Russian forces are advancing so quickly that families must leave the city and other nearby towns and villages starting Tuesday. Around 53,000 people still live in Pokrovsk, officials say, while some have already fled their homes as Russia’s army advances.

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Donetsk governor Vadym Filashkin called Monday’s decision to evacuate “necessary and inevitable”.

Pokrovsk is one of Ukraine’s main defensive strongholds and a key logistics hub in the Donetsk region. Its capture by Russia, which invaded Ukraine in February 2022, would compromise Ukraine’s defensive abilities and supply routes and would bring Russia closer to its stated aim of capturing the entire Donetsk region.

One of Kyiv’s attempts to ease the pressure on its eastern front was the unexpected August 6 incursion into Russia’s Kursk region, which among other goals aimed to unnerve the Kremlin and compel it to split its military resources.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Sunday that the daring incursion is trying to create a buffer zone that might prevent further attacks by Moscow across the border, especially with long-range artillery, missiles and glide bombs. That operation was continuing on Monday under tight secrecy.

Russia’s relentless six-month slog across Ukraine’s Donetsk region following the capture of Avdiivka has cost it heavily in troops and armour. However, the onslaught has gradually paid dividends as Ukrainian defenders have no choice but to pull back from positions blown to pieces by Russian artillery, missiles and bombs.

Russia wants control of all parts of Donetsk and neighbouring Luhansk, which together make up the Donbas region.

In Pokrovsk, residents have just two weeks to leave the city safely, officials said in an interview with the United States-funded Radio Liberty. Officials warned last week that Russian forces were rapidly advancing and were just 10km (6 miles) from the city’s outskirts.

A girl waits in line to evacuate by train in Pokrovsk [Evgeniy Maloletka/AP Photo]

Russia captures town of Zalizne

Oleksandr Syrskii, Ukraine’s military commander-in-chief, said on Monday that “heavy battles” were taking place in the Pokrovsk area.

The nearby town of Toretsk, whose capture would open the door for a Russian advance on the key stronghold of Chasiv Yar from the south, is also under heavy pressure, he said.

Russia’s Defence Ministry said on Monday that its forces had captured the town of Zalizne in Donetsk, as its offensive against the nearby city of Toretsk gains steam.

Zalizne, which Russia calls by its Soviet-era name of Artyomovo, adjoins Toretsk, a mining town and longtime bastion of Ukrainian forces operating in the Donbas region.

The Institute for the Study of War said Russian forces have been advancing roughly two square kilometres (0.8 square miles) per day in the Pokrovsk region over the past six months.

They have relied on frontal infantry assaults from village to village, notching incremental progress as they make their manpower and material advantages tell, the Washington-based think tank said on Sunday.

Pokrovsk officials were meeting with residents to provide them with logistical details on the evacuation. People were offered shelter in western Ukraine, where they will be hosted in dormitories and separate houses prepared for them.