MOSCOW: Russian forces said Tuesday they had captured the key hub of New York in eastern Ukraine, as Moscow – under pressure by a Kyiv counterattack on its territory – presses on with its offensive.

The defence ministry said its troops had captured “one of the largest settlements of the Toretsk agglomeration and the strategically important logistics hub (of) Novgorodskoye”, referring to the town in Ukraine’s Donetsk region by its former name.

The capture of the town, which had a population of around 10,000 before Moscow launched its offensive, is the latest in a string of Russian advances in the region.

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On Monday, Russia said it had captured the town of Zalizne, close to New York.

Donetsk was one of four Ukrainian regions that Moscow claimed to have annexed in 2022, despite not having full control over any of them.

The region has seen the most intense combat of the two-and-a-half year conflict.

Kyiv has struggled to hold the front line there, facing manpower and ammunition shortages after months of attritional fighting.

Ukraine launched a border incursion into Russia’s western Kursk region two weeks ago, a move it hoped could relieve pressure in other parts of the battlefield.

But the Russian advance in Donetsk has continued.

New York first found itself on the front line in 2014, when Moscow-backed separatists in the east tried to breakaway from Kyiv, triggering an armed conflict.

The origin of the town’s name is a mystery, with theories including possible American connections among its founders.

It was renamed “Novgorodskoye” – New City – by Soviet authorities in 1951 for ideological reasons, before Ukrainian lawmakers voted to switch it back to New York in 2021.