Russia claims control over strategic Ukrainian town of ‘Niu-York’

The Russian military said on Tuesday that its forces had taken control of what it described as the strategically important logistics hub of Niu-York in eastern Ukraine, part of Moscow’s grinding drive to capture the entire Donetsk region.

Even as Ukrainian troops seek to advance in Russia’s Kursk region after a surprise cross-border attack launched on Aug. 6, the fate of Niu-York — which NBC News could not independently confirm — is a reminder that Russian forces are pressing on with their own offensive in eastern Ukraine regardless.

Russia refers to Niu-York, which Ukraine gave back its original name in 2021, as Novgorodskoye, the Russian spelling of the settlement’s Soviet-era name.

“As a result of intense action by units of the ‘Centre Grouping’ of troops, a large grouping of enemy troops was crushed and one of the largest settlements in the Toretsk agglomeration and the strategically important logistics hub of Novgorodskoye … was liberated,” the Russian Defence Ministry said in a statement.

The Ukrainian military did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the current status of the settlement.

With a pre-war population of just under 10,000, Niu-York is on the railway line to Sloviansk, one of the cities in eastern Ukraine which Moscow has long wanted to take.

The Ukrainian military said earlier on Tuesday that heavy fighting was underway in the Toretsk sector, including in Niu-York, amid reports from Russian military bloggers that Moscow’s forces were engaged in mopping up operations in Niu-York.

In a morning report, Ukraine’s Khortytsia group of forces said on Telegram that Russian forces had tried to advance 24 times in various areas, including Niu-York.

On Monday, Vladimir Rogov, a Russian-backed official, posted video of a Russian soldier hoisting the Russian flag atop what looked like an administrative building in Niu-York while a charred Ukrainian flag lay on the pavement outside.