Russian troops have made advances into Ukraine’s Nikolaev Region, a strategically important area in the south of the country, the Defense Ministry in Moscow reported on Tuesday.
According to the ministry’s spokesman, Lieutenant General Igor Konashenkov, Russian and allied forces have destroyed Ukrainian military units defending the town of Aleksandrovka and managed to reach the administrative border of Nikolaev Region.
The town is in Ukraine’s Kherson Region, which has mostly been under Russian control for months. It lies on the coast of the Dnieper-Bug estuary, through which the waters of both rivers flow into the Black Sea.
The Bug River comes from the north, where the city of Nikolaev, the capital of the eponymous region, an important industrial and port city, and major stronghold of the Ukrainian military, is located.
Konashenkov also said that elsewhere in southern Ukraine, Russian troops have advanced into Nikolaev Region and have taken control of 12 square kilometers (4.6 square miles). He identified the location of the advancement as near the village of Komsomolskoye.
Russian forces were already in control of a small southeastern portion of Nikolaev Region, which borders Kherson Region.
Earlier in August, Nikolaev’s regional authorities announced a major crackdown on suspected Russian sympathizers in the provincial capital. The city was placed on a two-day lockdown while law enforcement screened for potential “collaborators” reporting intelligence matters to Russia.
Vitaly Kim, the head of the administration, said he did not trust anyone in the city to be loyal to Kiev and hinted that he could order a Bolshevik-style purge of “traitors.”