‘Russia is advancing towards multiple areas in the Donbas region’ • FRANCE 24 English

‘Russia is advancing towards multiple areas in the Donbas region’ • FRANCE 24 English

[Music] It is 3 years, 259 days since the Ukraine conflict began. And across much of the country, Ukrainians were woken to the constant sound once again of air raid sirens. Some sleeping in metro stations in makeshift bunkers, too, as Russia carried out another onslaught by air. 25 locations targeted. More than 450 drones launched and 45 missiles. In the city of Nepro, two people were killed, three injured when a drone crashed through several floors of an apartment block. And in his latest message to the nation, this is what President Zalinski had to say in the past few hours. The main target of this strike were our cities, our energy sector, and our people. Tragically, there are fatalities in Denipro. A Russian drone hit an apartment building and as of now three people have been reported killed in the city. Sadly, there is also a life lost infe. My sincere condolences to all family members and loved ones. Well, accurate news is hard to come by right now in what is a bleak situation. Ukrainian forces fighting for the defense of the city of Pocrosk. It is a so-called fortress hub in Daetsk region of east of Ukraine. Moscow claims it is now within its gras. It is encircled. Kev this week has acknowledged it’s difficult. The special forces have been sent in from a meat grinder type conflict. There are constant Russian push and probe. Constant drone attacks on top of the frontline fighting. The so-called fortress hub because it is a key supply route. It’s also key for the coal in the steel making industry of Ukraine. Russian soldiers have been fighting and dying in significant numbers in one of the longest battles in modern times and seen as the biggest prize for Putin since the fall of the city of Abdivka in the start of last year. Well, Ukraine’s seventh rapid reaction corps is part of the air assault forces and says uh in the last few days that Russia has been carrying out assaults uh through the week to the east of the city in an area called Mirrad. But disinformation flows in the absence of information coming through. Anna Cochling is an independent war reporter based in Keys been reporting from the front lines for some time including Pocrosk in the past. Great to have you on the program. Welcome to Front 24 Anna. First of all, there are a few Thank you for having me. Nice to have you with us. There are a few that can give us a an understanding of what Pakarov was to what it has become. So let’s go from there first. This was a city with around 60 thou,000 people. Tell me what it was like the last time you were were there and how you found it. The last time I was in Puffos was in January. So by then the city was already in ruins. There were very few people that were walking on the streets. The people that remained in the town that I was speaking with were telling me that there was no electricity, there was no heating, there was no hot water. Um there was very little humanitarian aid. Most of them were just going to one church that had food and water for them. Um the city administration had already left as far back as December and in uh August is when families with their children were forced to evacuate. So the situation was already bad even in January. It’s been bad since around August 2024. and it’s just gotten increasingly worse. When we look at the figures for the amount of months Russia has been pushing and pushing the comparisons to butcher in this kind of meat grinder type conflict, I think there have been comparisons made by deep state, the Institute for the Study of War as well suggesting that actually calculate a snail’s pace would actually be faster in that time. It’s around 10 kilometers that they’ve moved. But the fact is they at least the reports that we’ve seen that appear credible they’ve sort of they’re around the east of the city right now. But what’s your information in terms of where the fighting’s going on? How close is Pocr? I think it’s definitely looking very grim for Puffos right now. Um there’s a lot of conflicting information. The military in Ukraine says that they’re not encircled. um that there are small clusters of groups of Russian soldiers that are infiltrating into Puff Gross around I think 300 a day is what I’ve read but then the Russian um foreign ministry says that they’ve already encircled Ukrainian troops. There’s a lot of confusion about really what’s happening but I know from my sources their soldiers or that are evacuators in Donbas that could fall pretty soon. Um it’s very hard to tell again because of the news is always changing. In the past, we’ve seen that Ukraine has been able to push out Russian troops from places like Doberilia, but at the same time, it does seem that this could be kind of maybe the the final days of Puffos under Ukrainian control. I think I’m right in saying there’s one main road out of Pocraph. There was reports, some Ukrainian military reports suggesting there’s about a 15 kilometer gap. And again, it depends if the Russia’s view that it’s encircled the area is true or not. Kiev denies it. But it’s interesting listening to the language of President Zalinski, isn’t it? this week as well saying that these the Russians have delayed their deadline to capturing it. So he’s not talking about holding and pushing back right now. What do you make of those rumors of encirclement? And given you’ve talked about, you know, the diminishing numbers of people in the city, tell us a little bit about the evacuations that you’re seeing, the contacts you’re having of those trying to leave. Those that were trying to leave, I think most of them have already left by now. Um the people that remained often as it is throughout the war are the people that don’t have anywhere else to go. They’re often elderly or they’re um uh impaired or they feel that they don’t have enough money to start their lives over again. When I was in Puff Gross in October 2024, I met a young woman who was around 25 and she and her husband had already fled Puff Gross at the beginning of the war. They had moved to central Ukraine and they were living in a gymnasium with other refugees. But then they said that around two months into their stay, they were told that they needed to leave to make room for families with children. So that they had nowhere else to go. So then they returned to Huff Gross. Um that was in October of last year and she was telling me that they’re scared and they don’t know where to go uh next. I lost contact with her. Um and then by January, the people that remained um again were all elderly. I didn’t see any young people, any families with children. And I just saw people that were saying that they’re uh taking care of their mothers who are extremely elderly or that they don’t have any money to flee anywhere else because the people that end up staying in these towns and villages whenever they’ve become so dangerous that it seems that everybody should leave are the ones that they feel really that they don’t have anywhere else to go. It’s the same thing that I saw in Doberilia in August when um Russian troops were advancing in this area and it was constantly under um bombs and missiles and drone attacks and people there saying that they don’t have anywhere else to go. So evacuations I think have already completed in Puffross. They probably completed long ago because I I don’t think that many evacuations happen whenever uh Russian troops get as close as they are in Puff. But um again, the people that remained, I know that there are some people that are there, but I think that even they’re probably trying to find any way out by now. I know that in the past we’ve had reports of Russia uh Russian soldiers shooting uh the residents of Pros that remain and that was just maybe two months ago. You will be used to because you’ve done some incredible reports in the past couple of years on the situation across Ukraine. you’ll be used to the eb eb and flow and rhythm of information that you’re getting from contacts from soldiers and the absence of that at a time of of crisis right now in pocks. What do what are you finding in terms of trying to reach out to people and what you’re hearing back? By the time it gets to a point where a city is as close to falling as it is goes I completely lose contact with all of my sources there unfortunately. Um, even in January, there was no way to um, call people or to do follow-up interviews with anybody because nobody was answering the calls. I rely heavily on the people that have actually left um, their towns and villages who are living somewhere else like Nepro or in Kev or in Harky. Those are the ones that can give me insight into what their uh, parents or who have remained in those places can tell me about the situation. Um, it’s really hard to keep track of people and where they’re going. I know that a lot of people when they left Pukross they went to Doberilia and when I was in Doberilia they were saying we’ve already left Pros or we’ve already left places that are under Russian occupation like Bakmoot or Diva and we don’t know where else to go. Um but then on aside from that I try to keep in touch with the military but you never know you know if your military contacts are going to be alive the next day or not. So it’s very hard to keep uh constant information on what’s happening. Um it’s I mean it’s hard for everybody in Donbas. I know that many of the people who are living there now um are trying to find any way to leave. I know that Russia um is advancing towards multiple areas in the Donbas region. Um that there are evacuations that are trying to uh be underway, but that there are constant Russian drone attacks. There are constant uh Russian FB attacks that make it so that um even the people that are living in places in Dolipilia that are not on the front lines right now um are at risk for their safety specifically because of these Russian drone attacks. And it’s that balance to try to find out what’s going on, isn’t it? To not feed into the Kremlin narrative, but even hearing from the Ukrainians, I think openly defense officials talking about being out manned by about I think 8 n to one, out drone by about 9 10 to one. Um, when you look at the special forces operation that was sent in and again this information coming back from Russia, we don’t know, but they claim that they downed one Blackhawk helicopter. Do you know how that has gone or is still going? I’m not really necessarily sure on the situation happening exactly um on the battlefield in Puffos right now. I was I just came back to Ukraine today and I’m uh going to uh Donbos on Monday. Um but again I I’ve heard just from the soldiers that I know or some of the soldiers that are now uh in hospitals uh receiving treatment in Kev that um P of course is in a really uh vulnerable state now. The few people who know Pocross before and as you say you’ve you’ve seen it at various stages of the conflict. How recognizable are those satellite images, the images that you’ve seen of inside the city center that you’ve looked at to how you have seen it previously as a as a city that it was? I think that it’s obviously very difficult for any journalist who has been embedded in this story for almost four years to see what um the war does to these towns and these um cities that we’ve been to multiple times. It’s something that I think every journalist who had stayed in Puff Gross whenever they were reporting on places like Bakmood is feeling right now. Um whenever you go to these places, you obviously um make some sort of connection with the places that you’re reporting from. You’re you’re meeting with people who are so strong and who are saying um you know that they’re resilient despite the constant drone attacks. And seeing these images are really upsetting uh when you know that these people that you’ve spoken to, they might not even be alive anymore. Or if they are, they you don’t know where they’re living. I’m constantly thinking about the people that I’ve met in Puff Cros um right now. So, it’s very difficult to see these images, seeing just really um how bad it has gotten in Donbos um throughout this year because last year there were places in Donbos that were easier to get to. um life was still carrying on as normal as it could, but right now uh in Donbas, I know that many journalists are saying that they maybe will go for the last time this um fall or they’re taking really calculated risks and not going to uh Donbas as frequently as they used to or as easily as they used to. And when we hear about the two kind of big reasons Anna why this is a a fortress hub one of them being this this key logistics hub to keep supplying uh the lines in in the Donbas in Donetsk and the other that it’s very important perhaps the most important site for coing coal used for the steel industry. Um how bad is it if Ukraine loses it? You know how easy is it to to resupply elsewhere? I think that um when it comes to coing supplies and the natural resources, it’s one topic um that this this mine has already shut down. It already shut down earlier this year, so it’s not an operation anymore. But really for Ukraine and for Russia, it’s a very symbolic victory of who can keep control of it. For Ukraine, obviously, it means that they can keep control of part of their country, an important part. But the railway way has already been closed down. the coal mine has already been closed down. Um it’s really symbolic to make sure that Russia doesn’t advance, doesn’t take another town, another city. Um that is Ukraine. Um and then for Russia, I know that also um Vladimir Putin has been pushing this narrative that all of the residents of Donbas are Russian speaking. Um so that they’re Russian residents and that uh Russia seeks to control it. And Putin has also said that in order for there to be any end to the war, any ceasefire, that uh Russia seeks to control the entire uh Donbass region. And for Russia, that would mean that taking ghost is just one step closer uh to reaching that goal. Anna, great to talk to you. Good luck in the Donbass in the coming days. Stay safe as well in the Donbass. Great to have you on the program and speak to you again soon. Thank you, Anna Conkling, independent war reporter based in

The city of Pokrovsk, once a key logistics and cultural hub, now teeters on the brink of collapse. Through firsthand accounts, we see not only the brutal physical destruction of war but also the complete evisceration of the human condition. Ever since mid-2024, residents and Ukrainian officials have been stripping everything of value from the frontline town of Pokrovsk: library books, hospital beds, industrial equipment, everything that once supported a bustling settlement of more than 60,000 people at the heart of Ukraine’s eastern, mainly Russian-speaking Donbas region. International war correspondent Anna Conkling joins Gavin Lee and asserts that “this could be the final days of Pokrovsk under Ukrainian control”.
#Ukraine #War #Donbas

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