Ukraine withdraws troops from Vuhledar

Ukraine withdraws troops from Vuhledar due to the threat of encirclement of the city.

This was reported in the Operational and Strategic Grouping “Khortytsia” troops.

The Russians suffered numerous losses as a result of prolonged fighting, but did not stop trying to capture Vuhledar. They sent reserves to the city to exhaust the defense of the Ukrainian units. Because of this, there was a threat to Vuhledarʼs entourage.

The higher command of Ukraine ordered the withdrawal of units from Vuhledar in order to preserve personnel and military equipment, and to take positions for further battles.

On the afternoon of October 1, the head of the Donetsk Regional Military Administration Vadym Filashkin said that the situation in Vuhledar was "difficult" — then, according to him, the fighting was going on almost in the center of the city. 107 residents remained in the city.

Already in the evening, the Ukrainian analytical project DeepState wrote about the capture of Vuhledar. At the time, analysts noted that the Russians had hung their flags all over the city. Russian "warlords" also wrote about capturing the city or controlling most of it.

What preceded

On September 21, Mariana Bezuhla said that the military leadership was allegedly planning to rotate the 72nd brigade defending Vuhledar. Because of this, the Russians intensified their attacks and seized part of the territories around the city.

On September 25, the head of the Donetsk Regional Military Administration Vadym Filashkin said that Russian sabotage and reconnaissance groups (SRGs) are trying to break through to Vuhledar, but the Ukrainian Armed Forces are destroying the saboteurs.

At the same time, the co-founder of the analytical project DeepState Ruslan Mykula said that how long the Ukrainian defense of Vuhledar will last depends on how the Russians press from the flanks. According to him, it is "from a few days to a few weeks." Already on September 26, the fighters of the 72nd brigade, which defended Vuhledar, denied the departure of the fighters from the city.

• Vuhledar is an important strategic city — it is located on the heights, which the Russians want to use for further advance and offensive. The defense of Vuhledar began in November 2022.

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