Moscow has repeatedly claimed its forces have captured all of Niu-York but the Azov Brigade has dismissed those claims, saying Ukrainian forces continue to hold their positions.
Ukraine’s Azov Brigade says it has stabilised a previously “catastrophic” situation in Niu-York in the southeastern Donetsk Oblast, retaking part of the settlement from Russian forces.
Niu-York lies south of Toretsk, a key front-line town that has become one of the focal points of the Russian offensive in Donetsk.
“At the time the brigade was deployed to the area, the situation on the front line was catastrophic,” the Azov Brigade said in a statement posted on X.
“However, thanks to the high morale, courage, and professionalism of the brigade’s fighters, Azov managed to stabilize the situation, regain control of part of Niu-York, and unblock the Defense Forces, which were surrounded by enemy troops.”
The brigade said the situation in the region remains tense as Russian troops conducted up to 15 ground assaults in the area within a single day.
Russia has been pushing deeper into Niu-York over the past weeks in an attempt to seize the town of Toretsk.
While Moscow has repeatedly claimed its forces have captured Niu-York, the Azov Brigade has dismissed that, saying Ukrainian forces continue to hold their positions.
Meanwhile, at least one person has been killed and dozens of others injured following a Russian airstrike on civilian infrastructure in the eastern Ukrainian city of Pavlohrad.
According to the regional governor Sergiy Lysak, three children are among the injured.
“We were at home, we live on the fifth floor. We no longer have a balcony. I was with a small child of one years old. We hid in the corridor. Frightening. Very frightening,” said one survivor.
The attack on Pavlohrad comes on the same day as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy travelled to a meeting of the Ukraine Defence Contact Group in Germany to discuss Ukraine’s need for long-range weapons with the US and European partners.
He also pressed his case for allies’ permission to use weapons supplied in military aid packages to strike deeper into Russian territory.
And Russian shelling in the northeastern Sumy region started a wildfire in a border settlement, the State Emergency Service said. According to the SES, the fire spread across four hectares before firefighters could control and extinguish it.
The statement said the blaze was put out before it could damage a nearby forest plantation. Russian shelling also targeted a settlement near the city of Shostka, starting a fire in a residential building.
Firefighters there were forced to take cover multiple times due to continued shelling, SES said, adding that the fire was eventually extinguished.
