A video released on social media on Aug. 27 showed soldiers placing a Russian flag on a lamp post in the village of Kostiantynivka in Ukraine's Donetsk region.

According to the video, the Russian forces are closing in on the strategically important Ukrainian city of Pokrovsk, prompting some residents to evacuate for fear it will fall in the coming weeks.

Reuters was able to confirm the location as the village of Kostiantynivka in the Donetsk Region, which is about 47 km southeast of Pokrovsk, by the buildings, river, road layout, and trees which match satellite imagery. The date when the video was taken could not be independently verified. However official reports from Ukraine confirm there are Russian heavy assaults in the area near Pokrovsk.

The video was filmed at Kostyantynivka village, 47km (29 miles) southeast of Pokrovsk. This is not to be confused with Kostyantynivka town which is 47km (29 miles) northeast of Pokrovsk.

Pokrovsk is a road and rail hub and a city with a pre-war population of 60,000 people, tens of thousands of whom remain even as many evacuate.

It lies on a key road used by the Ukrainian military to supply other embattled Ukrainian-held outposts, such as the towns of Chasiv Yar and Kostiantynivka in the Donetsk region.

A coal mine that is Ukraine's largest producer of coking coal, which is used in its steel industry and was vital for its pre-war economy, is only a 20-minute drive to the west.

Since 2014, when Ukraine lost control of the regional capital - the city of Donetsk - Pokrovsk has hosted an important technical university, the largest and oldest in the wider region.

Control of the city, which the Russian media call "the gateway to Donetsk," would allow Moscow to severely disrupt Ukrainian supply lines along the eastern front and boost its campaign to capture the city of Chasiv Yar, which sits on higher ground offering potential control of a wider area.