Russia claims capturing Vuhledar after 2 years of fighting, gains strategic advantage in eastern Ukraine

Russia has captured the strategically important town of Vuhledar in eastern Ukraine, according to Russian military bloggers and a Ukrainian official.

The Russian victory at Vuhledar has come after two years of a grinding war of attrition. For more than two years, one single formation, the 72nd Mechanised Brigade, had defended the town but the exhaustion , cutting of supply lines, and failure to reinforce the brigade led to the fall of the town.

The victory in Vuhledar comes as Russia continues to score victories for months. Even as Ukraine has mounted an incursion in Russia’s border province of Kursk, Russia has continued to make gains in eastern Ukraine. Even as it has captured dozens of villages in recent months, Vuhledar is the biggest gain in a long time.

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The hilly town of Vuhledar gives not just a vantage point to strike in the neighbouring area but it also serves as a launchpad for carrying out attacks in the region. Ukraine valued the town as Vuhledar would have been used as launchpad for future counter-offensive in the eastern Ukraine’s Donbas region. Now that Russia controls it, Russia has that advantage.

Stanislav Buniatov, a commander in the 72nd brigade defending Vuhledar, told Financial Times that some of its forces had withdrawn so as not to be encircled. He added that “the situation remains tense, not without losses”.

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Since the invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Russia has been criticised for its ‘meatgrinder’ technique of war-waging, but it appears to be working lately. Under the technique, Russia sends waves of soldiers with no regard for their lives. Hundreds of thousands of casualties, including several thousand fatalities, have been reported in such attacks, but this year Russia has taken settlements on almost a daily basis, suggesting the technique is working.

Following the capture of Vuhledar, Russian Telegam channels published video of soldiers waving Russian flags over bombed-out buildings. Russia has bombed the town so badly that only around 100 of the pre-war population of around 14,000 remains there.

The success in Vuhledar is bound to boost Russian efforts to capture Pokrovsk, a hugely strategic city that Russia has got dangerously close to capturing in recent days . The city is seen as a door to winning the remainder of the Donbas region.

Vuhledar is located 80 km (50 miles) south of Pokrovsk. Last month, Russia captured another town of Ukrainsk in the region.

Vuhledar lies at the intersection of the eastern and southern battlefields. It is also close to a railway line connecting Russia-annexed Crimea and the Black Sea region with Donbas, which comprises Donetsk and Luhansk provinces. Currently, Reuters reports that Russia controls 98.5 per cent of Luhansk and 60 per cent of Donetsk. Russia’s formal war objective is the complete control of Donbas region.