The Ukrainian army announced on Wednesday that it was withdrawing from Vouhledar, ceding to the Russians after two and a half years of deadly fighting this town of military and symbolic importance, an illustration of the growing difficulties it is encountering 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 (Zaporijia and Kherson regions) fronts.
Vouhledar also has symbolic value due to the duration of the battle for its control and the losses recorded there.
Its fall adds to the difficulties of the Ukrainians in the eastern part of their country, with Russian troops getting closer in particular to Pokrovsk, a key city for Ukrainian logistics.
Russian flag raised
“The high command has given its authorization to the withdrawal maneuver from Vouhledar to allow men and military equipment to be saved and new positions to be taken for the continuation of the operations,” explained on Telegram the Khortytsia force group, responsible for the operations in this area.
This announcement confirms those of various specialized Internet sites which 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 circulating online.
On the Russian side, an advisor to the leader of the occupying forces of the Donetsk region, Ian Gaguine, 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 local administration building. 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 clean-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 launching into infantry and army assaults. tanks having been decimated by the Ukrainians.
The city, largely destroyed, was relentlessly bombarded by the Russian army. A small number of civilians have refused to leave, but neither kyiv nor Moscow can say how many.
Growing difficulties
In September, several Ukrainian officials estimated that holding Vouhledar was becoming increasingly difficult, with the Russians constantly pounding this 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.
In particular, they are barely ten kilometers from Pokrovsk.
The Russian army has not yet made any comments about the capture of Vouhledar, but assured in its daily press release that it was improving its positions in Donbass and having captured a town called Verkhnokamianske.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has made the conquest of Donbass his “number one priority”.
Ukraine, for its part, launched a surprise attack on the Russian region of Kursk in August, advancing there over some 1,000 km.2a humiliation for the Kremlin, which sees part of Russian territory occupied by an enemy army for the first time since the Second World War.
But this offensive does not seem to have relieved Ukrainian forces in the east, with kyiv hoping that the Russian army will redirect its efforts towards Kursk.
Furthermore, kyiv still does not have authorization from the Americans and Europeans to strike in depth at military targets located on Russian soil with long-range Western weapons, a tactical and strategic disadvantage.
The West fears leading Russia into an escalation, while Vladimir Putin has just decided to modify the policy of using nuclear weapons to include massive conventional attacks carried out on Russian territory by a non-nuclear country supported by nuclear powers.