MOSCOW: Russian forces have begun storming the eastern Ukrainian town of Vuhledar, a stronghold that has resisted Russian attack since the beginning of the 2022 war, according to Russian war bloggers and state media.
Russian forces in eastern Ukraine advanced at their fastest rate in two years in August, according to multiple open source maps, even though a Ukrainian incursion into Russia's Kursk region sought to force Moscow to divert troops.
President Vladimir Putin has said Russia's primary tactical goal is currently to take the whole of the Donbas region in south-eastern Ukraine. Russia controls just under a fifth of Ukraine, including about 80 per cent of the Donbas.
Russian forces have been pushing westwards at key points along some 150 km of the front in the Donetsk region, with the logistics hub of Pokrovsk a key target. They captured nearby Ukrainsk on Sept. 17 and were now entering the hilltop town of Vuhledar, about 80 km (50 miles) south of Pokrovsk.
"Russian units have entered Vuhledar - the storm of the town has begun," said Yuri Podolyaka, a Ukrainian-born, pro-Russian military blogger. Multiple pro-Russian war bloggers confirmed the attack.
Russia's defence ministry said its forces had defeated Ukrainian units at a series of settlements including Vuhledar, which Russians call Ugledar, and that the Eastern Grouping of Russian forces had improved their tactical positions. It gave no further details on Vuhledar.
Unverified video on Russian state media showed Vuhledar, which had a population of over 14,000 before the war, under heavy artillery and aerial bombardment.
Vuhledar's military administration did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Andriy Kovalenko, head of the Ukrainian Security Council's Centre for Countering Disinformation, said Russia's use of guided aerial bombs had helped it to advance in the area.
"(Vuhledar) used to be easy to defend, it is on high ground. But with the active arrival of guided aerial bombs at the front, the enemy managed to destroy it and move to the flank," Kovalenko said. "Guided aerial bombs and aviation are the only things that allow the enemy infantry to move."
Meanwhile, Russia hit a high-rise apartment block in Ukraine's northeastern city of Kharkiv during an attack with guided bombs on Tuesday, killing at least three people and injuring 22 more, with others feared trapped under rubble, local authorities said. "Russia is terrorising the Kharkiv region with impunity... A direct strike on a residential building," Ukraine's ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets said on the Telegram messenger app. — Reuters
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