CIVILIANS in the eastern Ukrainian city of Pokrovsk were urged by military authorities today to evacuate faster as the Russian army was quickly closing in.

Pokrovsk officials said in a Telegram post that Russian troops were “advancing at a fast pace.”

Ukrainian troops have been trying to divert the Kremlin’s military effort from the front line in their country to Russian soil by launching an incursion across the border into the Kursk region.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that his troops have taken full control of Sudzha in Kursk, making it the largest town seized by Kiev’s forces since the incursion began 12 days ago.

Zelensky aide Myhailo Podolyak said that its attacks inside Russia’s border aimed to get Moscow to start “fair” talks on ending the war.

He added that Ukraine had no interest in occupying the conquered territory.

“Negative changes in the psychological state of the Russian population will be another argument for the start of negotiations,” he said.

The BBC today that a constant flow of armoured vehicles supplied by the West, including Britain, was heading into Russia from Ukraine’s Sumy region.

Earlier, Kremlin aide Nikolai Patrushev alleged that Nato and the West were involved in the planning for the incursion.

“The statements by the US leadership that it was not involved in Kiev’s crimes in the Kursk region are not true,” he said in an interview.

“Without their participation and direct support, Kiev would not have ventured into Russian territory.”

Earlier this week, the White House insisted that the US had received no advance notice of the operation and was not involved.

US, British and Canadian weapons are among those being used in the incursion.