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【Text/Observer Network Wang Shichun】According to Russian News Agency, the Russian "Central" Group reported on August 18 that the Russian "Central" Group released a message on the evening of August 18, confirming that the Russian army has completely occupied the small town "New York Town" in the Donetsk direction of Ukraine (Russia calls it Novgorodsik Town). The Russian army has completed the cleanup of Novgorodsik and entered Nelipivka. This means that the Ukrainian army has lost the defense line built after 2014.

This news was confirmed by the Ukrainian group. The Ukrainian "Telegram" group admitted that the Russian army had made progress in the direction of Dzerzhinsk (called Toretsk by the Russian side): the Russians had occupied New York and were advancing towards Nerepivka in the direction of Toretsk.

The town of New York is located in the Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine, north of the city of Donetsk and south of Chasov Yar. In 2014, it was the front line of the Ukrainian government's "Anti-Terrorism Operation" (ATO) against the armed forces in eastern Ukraine. It is a core area of ​​​​the fortress area in eastern Ukraine.

The name of the town "New York Town" is the same as the famous big city on the east coast of the United States, New York. Both are "Нью-Йорк" in Russian. However, the name of the town has nothing to do with the American city of New York. It is said that the town was founded by members of the Mennonite Church who settled here during the reign of Catherine the Great. The name of the town has a long history, but its origin remains a mystery.

In 1951, Soviet authorities renamed it "Novgorodsk (meaning New Town)" for ideological reasons. In 2021, Ukrainian lawmakers voted to restore the town's name to "New York".

Since the outbreak of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, the town of "New York" has been on the front line of the conflict, and there have been reports of Russian troops bombing the town from time to time. However, the Russian army did not take the initiative to attack this line of defense. In July this year, in a bold assault, the Russian Donetsk People's Army crossed the Ukrainian defense line and broke into the center of New York Town. Then, together with the Russian army in the Artyomovo region in the north, they formed a semi-encirclement of the Ukrainian army in the area, forcing the Ukrainian army to abandon the 2014 defense line. Analysts said that this means that the Russian army has begun an offensive in the direction of Dzerzhinsk.

Regarding the Russian army's action, the third-party war report aggregation source account "Suriyak" on Twitter complained that he had never thought that he would say such a thing before, "Russian troops occupied New York (New York City)." The source added that the Ukrainian army had withdrawn from the town of New York and the defense zone that had been operating since 2014.

At present, facing the Ukrainian offensive in the Kursk region, the Russian army has not slowed down its offensive in the Donetsk region.

Earlier, the New York Times reported that a spokesman for a Ukrainian army unit deployed in Donetsk complained to the newspaper that the situation in the eastern Ukrainian frontline war zone has become worse since the Ukrainian army launched an offensive against Kursk. The Ukrainian army has been allocated less ammunition than before, and the Russian army is advancing step by step towards Pokrovsk (Russia calls it the Red Army City), an important transportation hub in eastern Ukraine.

The New York Times commented that the purpose of Ukraine's attack on Kursk was to force Russia to withdraw its troops from the front line in eastern Ukraine, but Russia has only deployed limited troops so far and has not withdrawn its troops from eastern Ukraine on a large scale.

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