Russian troops took control of the city of Buhledar in the eastern Donetsk region Ukrainiana stronghold that has withstood heavy attacks since the start of the Russian invasion in 2022.
The advance of Moscow’s forces, which control just under a fifth of Ukraine, underscores Russia’s vast superiority in manpower and equipment, as Ukraine appeals for more weapons to its Western allies, who support it.
Ukraine’s eastern military command said it ordered the withdrawal from the city to prevent Ukrainian troops from being surrounded by the Russian army and “to preserve military personnel and equipment.”
The Russian Defense Ministry did not mention the Buhlendar in his daily battlefield report.
However, Russian Telegram channels published videos showing troops holding and raising Russian flags on damaged buildings.
The city, where before the war, it had more than 14,000 inhabitantswas destroyed, with the Soviet-era apartment buildings half-crumbled and scarred by fire.
The newspaper Moskovsky Komsomolets reported that the last Ukrainian forces of the 72nd Mechanized Brigade, a unit known for its resistance, left the city last night.
The president Vladimir Putin declared that Russia’s main tactical objective is to seize the entire Donbass region – the Donetsk and Luhansk regions – in southeastern Ukraine.
Russia controls about 80 percent of Donbass, a major industrial hub where the conflict began in 2014 when Moscow backed pro-Russian separatist forces after the pro-Russian president was ousted in Kiev and Moscow seized Crimea.
Russian advance
Since Russia sent its army into Ukraine in February 2022, the war has been fought mainly with artillery units and drone strikes along a heavily fortified 1,000km front, involving thousands of soldiers.
But in August, the dynamics on the battlefield changed: Ukraine crossed the border into Russia’s Kursk region in an attempt to divert Russian forces elsewhere, and Russian troops began advancing more quickly than before eastward. from Ukraine.
Russian forces advance west at important points along the front of around 150 km in the Donetsk region, with Pokrovsk also being an important target. They captured Ukriansk on 17 September and began to surround Vukhledar, about 80 km south of Pokrovsk.
Russia, with its tactics, is trying to corner and tighten the cordon around the strongholds of the Ukrainian forces. Images of the heavy bombardment of the city with artillery fire and bombs were published in the area.
Neither side revealed their losses. However, both claim that the other side paid a high price in human lives for this city.
Control of Buhledar, located at the intersection of the eastern and southern fronts, is important because it will facilitate Russia’s advance as it attempts to penetrate deeper behind Ukrainian defense lines.
Russian bloggers said Russia may now try to advance towards Velika Novosilka, about 30 km to the west.
OR Buhlendar it is also close to a railway line connecting Crimea with the Donbass region.
Russian forces currently control 98.5% of Luhansk Oblast and 60% of Donetsk Oblast.
Source: RES/MPE
