Russian forces take eastern city of Vuhledar as Ukrainian army withdraws

Oct. 2 (UPI) -- Ukrainian forces said Wednesday they had retreated from the stratgically key frontline town of Vuhledar in the eastern Donetsk region after two years of keeping invading Russian forces at bay.

The decision to pull out had been made to avoid being surrounded and limit troop and equipment losses after Russian forces entered the town Tuesday amid relentless assaults against the flanks of Ukraine Ground Forces positions, the Khortytsia Group said in a social media post .

"Having suffered numerous losses as a result of prolonged battles, the enemy did not stop trying to capture Vuhledar. In an effort to take control of the city at any cost, they managed to direct reserves to carry out flanking attacks, which exhausted the defense of the units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine," the group said.

"As a result of the enemy's actions, there was a risk of the city being encircled. The higher command has given permission to carry out a maneuver to withdraw units from Vuhledar in order to preserve personnel and combat equipment, to take up positions for further actions."

The town, about 25 miles southwest of Donetsk and 100 miles east of Zaporizhzhia, was the last military outpost still controlled by Ukraine east of Velyka Novosilka and the entire southern part of Donetsk Oblast and its fall clears a route westward for Russian forces along the key T0509 highway south of Vuhledar.

Donetsk, along with Luhansk, make up the disputed eastern Donbas region, more and more of which has been occupied by Russia from 2014 onwards culminating in Moscow annexing the region along with two other provinces in September 2022 after the populations "voted" to join the Russian Federation in referendums held by Moscow-installed authorities that have been ruled illegal by 143 countries at the U.N. General Assembly.

Authorities in Ukraine-administered areas of the province said Tuesday that Russian troops were close to the center of the city and the BBC said footage being circulated online by pro-Kremlin military bloggers showed troops raising Russian flags atop buildings across the city.

The BBC quoted Ukrainian troops as saying Russian shelling and drones killed and injured many of their fellow soldiers as they attempted to escape on foot after all other means of evacuation were closed off, with many remaining unaccounted for.

Russian forces have repeatedly tried and failed to capture the town since launching their full-scale invasion in Feb. 2022 and it was the scene of the largest tank battle of the conflict last year but the sheer scale of the military assets they bring to bear -- seven times those of Ukraine, according to some estimates -- eventually prevailed.