Ukraine's Vuhledar fortress fell to the Russian army.

A Ukrainian official in the region confirmed the information on Tuesday. Verified footage also showed Russian soldiers waving flags from the top of a bombed multi-story building and raising another flag atop a metal spire on the roof.

Other images show smoke rising from the ruins of this small mining town, now a desolate and ravaged battlefield where Ukrainian units fought off Russian armored vehicle attacks throughout the two and a half years of the war.

Satellite imagery from September 2024 shows the town of Vuhledar heavily damaged during intense fighting between Russia and Ukraine. Photo: Planet Labs

"The enemy is close to the city center," Vadym Filashkin, governor of the Donetsk region, part of the larger historical Donbas area, told Ukrainian television, describing the situation as very difficult.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and the military declined to comment on the situation in Vuhledar on Tuesday. It remains unclear whether Russian forces have full control of the town.

Footage of the fighting from the popular military blog DeepState shows Russian forces across Vuhledar. Ukrainian public television channel Suspilne quoted soldiers fighting there as saying they had not received orders to leave.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Monday that President Vladimir Putin "regularly receives information directly from the military," including information about the Vuhledar.

Vuhledar is a strategically important outpost in eastern Ukraine. (Graphic: ISW)

Russian military bloggers, including a group of military analysts who run the popular Rybar Telegram channel, have praised the capture of the town, a move that could accelerate the advance of Russian forces in the Donbas region.

Vuhledar is strategically important due to its high elevation and its location near the crossroads of two main fronts, in eastern and southern Ukraine. Russian forces arrived on the outskirts last week and have since intensified their offensive.

Earlier, Andriy Nazarenko, commander of a drone battalion of Ukraine's 72nd Mechanized Brigade, said they were outnumbered and outmatched in terms of firepower at Vuhledar.

"The situation in Vuhledar is very difficult, most difficult because the attacks have been going on for more than six months and the enemy is constantly changing ranks with new, well-trained forces," Nazarenko said.

Speaking from an undisclosed location during a Zoom interview, Nazarenko said his unit was doing everything possible to maintain "a gap" so that infantry could withdraw from the town.

Gaining complete control of Vuhledar would allow the Russian military to improve logistics by making more active use of the railway, facilitating troop movements in the area and securing elevated positions for artillery fire.

Bui Huy (according to Reuters)

Source: https://www.congluan.vn/phao-dai-chien-luoc-vuhledar-cua-ukraine-that-thu-truoc-quan-doi-nga-post314842.html