‘Trying to erase it from the face of the earth’: Drones show carnage in Ukrainian town

Kyiv: Barely a street appears untouched in Myrnohrad in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region, a dozen kilometres from the key logistics hub of Pokrovsk that Moscow claims to now control.

New drone footage – shot in the past few days – shows the devastated Ukrainian town that is nearly encircled by Russian forces. Some destruction is so fresh that smoke can still be seen rising.

“They are trying to simply erase the [town] from the face of the earth,” said Oleksii Hodzenko, press officer of the drone battalion of the 38th Marine Brigade (“Korsar”), whose soldiers were still fighting inside Myrnohrad on Wednesday.

The town is almost encircled by Russian forces, according to DeepState, an open-source Ukrainian map widely used by the military and analysts.

Hodzenko said that while there was still a route out for Ukrainian troops, Russian efforts had made logistics in and out of the town difficult: “We [can only] very rarely carry out even a small rotation of personnel. People sit there for weeks.”

Ukraine’s eastern command said on Telegram it was channelling supplies to troops in Myrnohrad.

Hodzenko said they were relying on ground-robot drones to carry food and water to remaining soldiers. He did not say how many were left in town, in keeping with military restrictions.

Myrnohrad had a population of about 46,000 before Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022. It has since suffered the same fate as dozens of other Ukrainian towns and villages in the east and south as they have nearly emptied of people.

Over more than a year, the assaults by Russian forces using glide bombs that weigh up to 500 kilograms, as well as swarms of attack drones and artillery, have turned the town into an uninhabitable shell.

“When you sit at the command post and hear the exchanges between [Ukrainian] units, once every few minutes a radio comes in, ‘KAB [glide bomb] on Myrnohrad’,” Hodzenko said.

This image – taken from a video provided by the Ukrainian Defence Forces this month – shows the heavily bombed city of Myrnohrad.Credit: AP

“As of now, all our fighters can do, and all they do, is hold the city as best they can.”

On Tuesday, Russia’s Defence Ministry claimed troops had taken control of nearby Pokrovsk, posting a video of Russian soldiers holding the Russian flag in the city’s centre. The claim was rejected by Ukraine’s General Staff.

Kremlin presidential aide Yuri Ushakov said on Wednesday that Russia’s progress on the battlefield had strengthened its negotiating position in talks with the United States on the US-drafted plan aimed at ending the war.

“The progress and nature of the negotiations were, of course, influenced by the Russian army’s battlefield successes in recent weeks,” Ushakov told reporters. “These developments had a positive impact on the negotiations.”

Russian soldiers hold a Russian national flag in Pokrovsk, an image taken from video provided by Russian Defence Ministry Press Service on Tuesday.Credit: AP

US President Donald Trump said on Thursday morning (AEDT) that the path ahead for Ukraine peace talks was unclear after what he called “reasonably good” talks between Russian President Vladimir Putin and American envoys.

The Kremlin said that Putin accepted some US proposals aimed at ending the war in Ukraine and was prepared to keep working to find a compromise.

US special envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump adviser and son-in-law Jared Kushner spent hours at the Kremlin, departing on Wednesday with no specific breakthrough on ending the war.

Trump, speaking to reporters in the Oval Office, said Witkoff and Kushner briefed him about the talks via telephone and told him their impression from Putin was that “he would like to make a deal”.

“What comes out of that meeting I can’t tell you because it does take two to tango,” Trump said, without elaborating. He added: “We have something pretty well worked out [with Ukraine].”

A White House official said Witkoff and Kushner would meet with Ukrainian officials in Miami on Thursday, Florida time.

When asked if it would be correct to say that Putin had rejected the US proposals, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov disagreed.

“A direct exchange of views took place yesterday for the first time,” Peskov said. “Some things were accepted, some things were marked as unacceptable. This is a normal working process of finding a compromise.”

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky said his team was preparing for meetings in the US and that dialogue with Trump’s representatives would continue.

“Only by taking Ukraine’s interests into account is a dignified peace possible,” he said.

Meanwhile, the European Commission proposed an unprecedented use of frozen Russian assets or international borrowing to raise €90 billion ($159 billion) for Ukraine to cover its struggling military and basic services against Russia’s war.

The European Union’s executive body has declared it favours a “reparations loan” using Russian state assets immobilised in the EU due to the invasion of Ukraine.

But Belgium, which holds most of the assets and has voiced a range of legal concerns, is not convinced by the proposal.

“Since pressure is the only language the Kremlin responds to, we can also dial it up,” Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said. “We have to increase the costs of war for Putin’s aggression and today’s proposal gives us the means to do this.”

But the Belgian government did not “share that assessment”, a senior official told Reuters. “Belgium cannot accept being asked to bear the risks of such an operation alone.”

Russia has warned the EU and Belgium against using its assets, which it says would be an act of theft. The commission says the scheme does not amount to confiscation as the money would be in the form of a loan – although Ukraine would only have to redeem it if Russia pays reparations.

Hodzenko urged Western allies to continue supporting Ukraine.

“Despite some agreements or disagreements between the US, Russia, the European Union, NATO, we still need help, in particular military help,” Hodzenko said.

“In order for the West not to go to war with Russia after a certain time, the West must certainly help us in any possible way.”

AP, Reuters

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