Slovyansk, key eastern Ukrainian city, orders shutdown with Russian forces within 25km

The Slavyansk military administration has suspended all public activities as Russian forces operate 25 kilometers from the city limits in eastern Ukraine’s Donetsk Oblast.

The military shutdown comes amid intensified Russian offensive operations along the eastern front, where Moscow’s forces have made incremental gains in recent months. This escalation places additional pressure on Ukrainian defensive positions ahead of US President-elect Donald Trump’s return to power in January 2025, when he is expected to push Ukraine and Russia toward peace talks.

“All in-person educational activities and operations related to education, as well as activities in culture, youth policy, physical education and sports, by entities of any form of ownership involving minors, are prohibited across the Slavyansk territorial community,” announced Military Administration Head Vadim Lyakh.

Russian forces appear to be attempting a pincer movement toward the Slavyansk-Kramatorsk urban area, advancing from the south near Chasiv Yar and Toretsk while pushing from the north along the Lyman-Kupiansk axis.

The Slavyansk-Kramatorsk metropolitan area represents Ukraine’s largest government-controlled urban center in Donetsk Oblast. The city briefly fell to Russian-backed forces in April 2014 during initial attempts to establish the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DNR), before Ukrainian forces regained control that summer.

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