Russian forces edge closer to a key eastern Ukraine city in intense fighting, officials say

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Fighting around the key eastern Ukraine city of Pokrovsk is “extremely intense” after a monthslong Russian push, Ukraine’s top military commander said, with analysts estimating Russian forces are now within just a few kilometers (miles) of the city.

Ukrainian troops repelled nearly 40 Russian attempts to storm defenses around Pokrovsk over the previous 24 hours, the General Staff said in a battlefield report Thursday.

“Russian occupiers are throwing all available forces forward, attempting to break through the defenses of our troops,” Ukrainian army chief Gen. Oleksandr Syrskyi said in a Facebook post late Wednesday. His forces are outnumbered, he said.

Ukraine’s stretched defenses in Donetsk have been creaking since early this year under a fierce Russian drive to capture its neighbor’s entire eastern Donbas region. Russian forces are trying to overwhelm Ukraine’s battlefield defenses with sheer numbers of troops and powerful glide bombs that blast fortifications to smithereens.