About 500 people are being evacuated from the frontline town of Pokrovsk in Donetsk Oblast every month, city administration head Serhii Dobriak told Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) on July 29.
The Pokrovsk sector has been the scene of fierce fighting for several months, where Russia's offensive in Donetsk Oblast is at its most intense. Ukrainian troops fended off 36 attacks in this area alone during the day, the General Staff said in its latest update.
According to Dobriak, 60,000 people, including 4,000 children, remain in Pokrovsk. Another 4,000 children have been evacuated.
"Today the town is 20 kilometers from the front line. We are fulfilling the tasks (on the construction of fortifications) set by the military leadership. No more, no less," the head of the city's military administration said.
Ukrainian authorities have faced criticism for slow progress on fortifying defensive lines. In March, President Volodymyr Zelensky announced that Ukraine was building 2,000 kilometers of fortifications across three lines of defense, adding that the "task is massive, but the pace is good."
The third line of fortifications in Donetsk Oblast being built by civilians was 90% complete as of late June, Governor Vadym Filashkin said.
Russian forces have captured the villages of Vovche and Prohres in the Pokrovsk sector, the crowd-sourced monitoring website DeepState claimed on July 27, though the reports have yet to be officially confirmed by Kyiv.
Francis Farrell
