A destroyed car is seen in front of a residential building that was heavily bombed by Russian forces, in the frontline town of Vagledar, Ukraine, February 25, 2023. File | Photo: AP
Ukraine’s army said on Wednesday (2 October 2024) it had pulled out of the eastern town of Vagledar, handing Russia one of its most significant territorial gains in weeks.
The fall of the coal-mining city raised new questions about Ukraine’s defense posture along its southeastern front line with Russia advance before winter.
About 14,000 people lived in Vagledar before Russia invaded, making it one of Moscow’s most important acquisitions in the months of heavy advance in the east.
“The High Command gave permission for a maneuver to withdraw units from Vaghledar in order to rescue personnel and military equipment and take a position for further operations,” the Ukrainian troop group Khortytsa, which operates in the area, said in a Telegram post .
The unit said it had inflicted heavy losses on Russian forces, but the relentless attacks meant “there is a threat of encirclement” forcing it to withdraw.
Vagledar is about 50 km (30 miles) southwest of the city of Donetsk, the capital of a region Russia claims to have annexed.
Moscow’s forces have been trying to capture the city since the first weeks of their invasion, which began in February 2022.
There was particularly bloody fighting for the city throughout the two and a half year war and it was largely destroyed by Russian shelling.
Russian military bloggers have posted videos in recent days of soldiers raising Russian flags at various locations in Vagledar. The Ministry of Defense in Moscow has not officially laid claim to the city.
In a daily briefing on Wednesday (2 October 2024), she said her forces had captured the small village of Verkhnokamianske in the north in the Donetsk region.
“Extremely Difficult”
Given the military resources allocated to the city, Vagledar acquired symbolic importance for Russia and Ukraine.
About 100 civilians still live there despite heavy fighting in recent weeks, Ukraine’s Donetsk region governor Vadim Filashkin said on Tuesday (1 October 2024).
“The humanitarian situation in Vagledar is extremely difficult,” he said on Telegram.
The US-based Institute for the Study of War expressed doubt that Russia would gain a strategic advantage from the takeover.
“It is unclear whether Russian forces will make rapid gains beyond Vagledar in the near future,” a battlefield analysis report said.
But Kiev’s withdrawal will raise wider concerns about its ability to hold a stretched 1,000-kilometer front line facing a Russian army with superior manpower and ammunition. The capture of Vagledar comes as Russian troops attempt to advance towards the logistics hub of Pokrovsk, further north.
Thousands of civilians have fled Pokrovsk in the past month with Russian forces less than 10 km (six miles) away.
The mining town was home to 60,000 people before Moscow launched its offensive, and its capture would be one of Russia’s most significant gains in months.
Published – October 02, 2024, 7:16 PM IST
