Civilians are fleeing Pokrovsk in droves today, in the face of advancing Russian forces that continue to close in on this major logistics hub in eastern Ukraine, despite Kiev’s offensive on Kursk, inside Russian territory.

The Russian army has been occupying village after village in recent weeks in this sector of the eastern front and is now some ten kilometers from Pokrovsk, a town of 53,000 inhabitants. Ukrainian authorities called earlier this week for an urgent evacuation of the city.

Maxim, a 40-year-old man met by AFP reporters as he fled, spoke of a “very tense” situation that was getting worse by the hour. The eight-story building where he lived was recently bombed while he was walking home.

“I decided to leave because life is more important,” said Maxim, who works in a Pokrovsk mine.

Anatoly, 60, said he witnessed two bombings. “What a waste! But, thank God, everyone survived. People are leaving,” he said.

Regional authorities on Monday ordered the “forced evacuation” of families with children from Pokrovsk, a town leading to the fortified Ukrainian positions of Chasiv Yar and Kostiantynivka.

Earlier today, the Russian army announced that it had captured another village in the region, Zelanie, 20 km east of Pokrovsk. Yesterday he announced that he had brought under his control the town of New York – highly symbolic because of its name – in the Toretsk region. Ukrainian military and bloggers today assured that a part of New York is still controlled by Kiev.