Ukrainian Mechanical Brigade Resigns, Russia Wins Vuhledar After Two Years

Russian troops on Ukrainian terrain.. (Wikimedia Commons/Mil.ru)

JAKARTA - Russian troops on Wednesday took over the city of Vuhledar in eastern Ukraine, a fort that has survived intense attacks since Russia launched a massive offensive in 2022.

The progress of Moscow forces, which control nearly a fifth of Ukraine's territory, underscores Russia's great advantage in terms of troop and material numbers, while Ukraine is looking forward to more weapons than Western allies who have supported it.

Ukraine's eastern military command said it had ordered a withdrawal from the coal mining town on the hilltop to avoid a siege by Russian troops and "protect personnel and military equipment".

Meanwhile, Russia's Ministry of Defense did not mention Vuhledar in its daily battlefield report.

However, the Russian Telegram channel published a video of troops waving the three-color Russian flag over the destroyed building.

The city, which had a population of more than 14,000 people before the war, had been destroyed, with the Soviet-era apartment building falling apart and damaged.

The Moskovsky Komsomolets newspaper said Ukraine's last troops from the 72nd Mechanical Brigade, a troop unit known for its resistance, had left the city on Tuesday night.

It is known, President Vladimir Putin said Russia's main tactical goal was to seize entire areas of Donbas, Donetsk and Luhansk provinces, in southeastern Ukraine.

Russia took control of about 80 percent of the Donbas region, the center of the heavy industry where the conflict began in 2014 when Moscow supported pro-Russian separatist forces after a pro-Russian president was ousted in Kyiv and Moscow seized Crimea from Ukraine.

Since Russia sent its troops to Ukraine in February 2022, the war has largely been a story of artillery strikes and drones along a heavily fortified 1.000 km (620 miles) frontline involving hundreds of thousands of troops.

However, the battlefield became much more dynamic in August, after Ukraine broke through the border in Russia's Kursk region in a bid to divert Russian troops, and Russian troops began advancing more rapidly than ever before in eastern Ukraine.

Russian troops have moved forward to the west at key points along the 150 km (95 miles) frontline in the Donetsk region, with Pokrovsk's logistics center also being the main target.

They seized Ukraine on September 17 and then began to besiege Vuhledar, about 80 km (50 miles) south of Pokrovsk. Russia has used clamping tactics to trap and then restrict Ukrainian strongholds.

Images of the area show intense bombings in the city with artillery and air glide bombs. No party disclosed any losses, and each said the other had paid a high human price for the city.

The control of Vuhledar, which is located at the crossroads of the eastern and southern battlefields, is important as it will facilitate Russia's progress as it tries to penetrate deeper behind Ukraine's defensive line.

Russian bloggers say Russia can now try to advance towards Velyka Novosilka, about 30 km (20 miles) to the west.

Vuhledar is also located close to the railway line that connects Crimea with the Donbas area.

Russian troops currently control 98.5 percent of the Luhansk region and 60 percent of the Donetsk region.