Ukrainian army withdraws from eastern Ukrainian town of Vouhledar

Photo: Genya Savilov Agence France-Presse A man walks in front of closed shops in the Ukrainian city of Pokrovsk, near Vouhledar, in eastern Ukraine.

Agence France-Presse in kyiv

Published October 2

• Europe

The Ukrainian army announced on Wednesday that it was withdrawing from Vouhledar, ceding this city of military and symbolic importance to the Russians after two and a half years of deadly fighting, an illustration of the growing difficulties it is facing in eastern Ukraine.

The conquest of this city puts an end to the stability that this sector of the front line had known for two years. It also raises the question of the solidity of Ukrainian defenses in this area located at the junction of the eastern (Luhansk and Donetsk regions) and southern (Zaporizhia and Kherson regions) fronts.

Vouhledar also has a symbolic value due to the length of the battle for its control and the losses that were recorded there.

Its fall adds to the difficulties of the Ukrainians in the eastern part of their country, with Russian troops moving closer to Pokrovsk, a key city for Ukrainian logistics.

Russian flag raised

“The high command has authorized the maneuver to withdraw from Vouhledar to allow to save men and military equipment and to take new positions for the continuation of operations,” explained on Telegram the Khortytsia group of forces responsible for operations in this area.

This announcement confirms those of various specialized websites that analyze open sources concerning the Ukrainian conflict. And several Ukrainian officials had suggested in recent weeks that the capture of this city was imminent.

On Tuesday, images of soldiers waving the Russian flag on the roof of the municipal administration began to circulate online.

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On the Russian side, an adviser to the leader of the occupying forces of the Donetsk region, Yana Gagin, confirmed on Wednesday that Russian troops were in Vouhledar, while exercising caution.

“Our soldiers are in Vouhledar, a Russian flag has been planted on the building of the local administration. However, it is premature to talk about taking the city,” he told Russian state news agency RIA Novosti.

“There are still scattered units of the Ukrainian army. A mopping-up operation is underway and will take some time,” he added.

Russia has been trying to take Vouhledar since the first weeks of its invasion launched on February 24, 2022. Particularly bloody fighting for Russian forces took place there in early 2023, with many men engaged in infantry and tank assaults that were decimated by the Ukrainians.

The city, largely destroyed, has been relentlessly bombarded by the Russian army. A small number of civilians have refused to leave, but neither kyiv nor Moscow are able to say how many.

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Growing difficulties

In September, several Ukrainian officials had estimated that holding Vouhledar was becoming increasingly difficult, with the Russians constantly pounding the area with very powerful guided aerial bombs.

The Ukrainians have been on the defensive for more than a year against better-equipped and more numerous Russian troops who are gaining ground in the east, despite heavy losses.

They are notably barely ten kilometers from Pokrovsk.

The Russian military has not yet commented on the capture of Vouhledar, but said in its daily statement that it was improving its positions in Donbass and had captured a town called Verkhnokamianske.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has made conquering Donbass his “number one priority.”

Ukraine, for its part, launched a surprise attack on the Russian region of Kursk in August, advancing some 1,000 square kilometers, a humiliation for the Kremlin, which saw part of Russian territory occupied by an enemy army for the first time since World War II.

But this offensive does not seem to have relieved Ukrainian forces in the east, with kyiv hoping that the Russian military will redirect its efforts towards Kursk.

Moreover, kyiv still does not have the authorization of the Americans and the Europeans to strike deep into military targets located on Russian soil with Western long-range weapons, a tactical and strategic disadvantage.

The West fears to draw Russia into an escalation, while Vladimir Putin has just decided to modify the policy of recourse to nuclear weapons to include massive conventional attacks carried out on Russian territory by a non-nuclear country supported by nuclear powers.