The fall of Vougledar: the Ukrainians withdraw after two and a half years of deadly fighting

This article was originally published in English

kyiv forces have withdrawn from the town of Vougledar in the Donetsk region, the Ukrainian military command confirmed on Wednesday.

According to the monitoring website DeepState, Russian soldiers entered the Donbas mining town on Tuesday, advancing from the west and south.

According to the Institute for the Study of War (ISW), Moscow’s forces were also advancing northeast of the city.

Geotagged images published Monday and Tuesday show Russian forces planting Russian flags and operating freely in different parts of Vougledar, and Russian military bloggers claimed Tuesday that Russian forces had seized the town.

The governor of the Donetsk region, Vadym Filashkin, said on Tuesday that the situation was “very difficult”. “The enemy is already almost in the center of the city,” he told Ukrainian television.

On Wednesday, Army Group Khortytsia officially announced that Ukrainian forces had withdrawn.

“Higher command authorized a withdrawal maneuver of Vougledar units in order to save military personnel and equipment and take positions for further operations,” the group said.

The Ukrainian 72nd Mechanized Brigade has been defending the city for almost two years.

The extent of Ukrainian losses is not known at this time, but an orderly withdrawal likely avoided greater losses.

What’s next for Russian forces?

Russian troops have been trying to seize the city since the start of the large-scale invasion in early 2022. Vougledar has withstood numerous attacks in recent months and weeks, as Moscow’s forces attempted to surround the city.

According to the ISW, it is not sure that Russian forces make rapid progress beyond Vougledar in the near future.

They will first have to completely clean the city “to make it a usable position from which they can launch future assaults”, estimates the American think tank. Ukrainian defensive positions are located northeast of Vougledar.