All work in the mine near Pokrovsk was stopped on Tuesday, and employees have been evacuated. Russian soldiers are said to be only a few kilometers away.
On Monday, the Russian military announced that the small community of Pisjtjane, on the outskirts of Pokrovsk, had been "liberated".
The site is located on the thundering front line in Donetsk in southeastern Ukraine, less than a mile southeast of Pokrovsk. The Russian invasion forces have been on the offensive in the east in recent months. They have targeted Pokrovsk and another small town a little further south, Kurachove. The latter fell into Russian hands just over a week ago.
In December, the Ukrainian steel and mining giant Metinvest announced that it was forced to evacuate personnel from the mine in Pisjtjane, where the company extracts about half of all coal it produces in Ukraine.
The coke mine has been very important for Ukraine as it produces coal for export and contributes, according to Metinvest, with "significant" revenue for the state.
The small mining town is also a strategic hub in Donetsk.
