Russian forces are also pressing on the strategic city of Pokrovsk, which sits at the other end of that route. More than one thousand residents remain in Toretsk, out of a pre-war population of around 60,000, but evacuating them is "extremely difficult" because of indiscriminate Russian shelling, Bobovnikova added.

The situation in Toretsk in Donetsk Oblast remains very difficult as Ukraine is fighting Russian forces in the eastern outskirts of the front-line town, a spokesperson of the Luhansk Operational Tactical Group said on Oct.

Russian forces have reached the outskirts of Toretsk, an eastern Ukrainian frontline city, just days after capturing the strategic town of