Ukrainian troops are withdrawing from Vuhledar, a key city in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine after Russian forces took it following nearly three years of siege.
The loss of Vuhledar is significant due to its strategic high ground and its role as a supply hub. It also brings the Russian military closer to capturing Pokrovsk, an even more critical transportation hub in the region. Seizing Pokrovsk would move Russia closer to full control of the Donetsk region and provide access to the economically important Dnipro area.
Moscow claims that Donetsk is one of the four Ukrainian regions it annexed in 2022, a claim Kyiv rejects as illegal.
According to The Guardian, Russian forces are now advancing in eastern Ukraine at their fastest pace in the past two years despite Ukraine’s incursion into Russia’s Kursk region. Although this diversion drew some Russian troops away, it did not affect those fighting in eastern Ukraine but rather on the southern and northeastern fronts.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has stated that Russia’s primary goal is to seize the entire Donbas region in southeastern Ukraine. In September 2022, he claimed to have “annexed” four Ukrainian regions, including Donetsk and neighboring Luhansk. Moscow currently controls just under one-fifth of Ukraine, including approximately 80% of the Donbas region.
