A significant military advance by Russia in Ukraine is forcing thousands of civilians to evacuate from towns near the frontlines. Recent reports indicate that Russian forces have surged as much as 10 miles past Ukrainian defenses in what officials characterize as one of the most aggressive offensives in recent months.
This offensive appears to be strategically aimed at encircling critical cities that play a vital role in Ukrainian logistics and defense.
Independent reporter Anna Conkling, working with the news platform Noosphere, has just returned from Eastern Ukraine, providing firsthand insights from the front line regions where Russian forces are actively advancing.
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"I was in Dobropillia, which is a small town near the front lines," Conkling told Scripps News. She noted the rapidly deteriorating situation, saying, "When I was there, residents I was speaking with said that over the last month really, the situation in Dobropillia has become increasingly more dangerous."
Her comments come in the wake of a recent attack that targeted a market in Dobropillia, resulting in at least two fatalities and dozens of injuries.
"In the aftermath of that attack, a lot of people ended up leaving Dobropillia," Conkling said. "The ones that remain — the ones I spoke with — were elderly, they were internally displaced people coming from places ... that are under Russian occupation."
Many of the remaining residents in Dobropillia are waiting for evacuation, as daily explosions have become a prevalent sound in the town.
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"Everybody said that explosions are constant in Dobropillia, that they're happening every day," Conkling added, "that sometimes in one day they can hear Russian drones flying over Dobropillia every 30 minutes."
"I went to an evacuation site on Friday, where I was watching people coming from their towns and their villages in the Dobropillia region," she continued. "One of the men that I met, he was covered in blood when he got out of the car. Rescue workers told me that he had been riding his bicycle from his village to Dobropillia in an attempt to take out some cash from an ATM, when his bicycle was found by a Russian drone and then he came under fire."
Watch Scripps News' full interview with journalist Anna Conkling in the video player above.
