▲ In an image from February 2023, a Ukrainian soldier takes his position in a housing unit in Vuhledar, Donietsk.Photo Ap

Juan Pablo Duch

Correspondent

La Jornada Newspaper
Thursday, October 3, 2024, p. 26

Moscow. After intense fighting since March 2022, combined with the siege of this small town in the southeast of the Donietsk region, the Russian army was able to take control of Vuhledar this Wednesday, a disputed strategic site where Ukrainian troops had entrenched themselves to bomb with artillery the nearby railways used by Russian logistics in that area.

When images of the Russian tricolor flag flying at the administration headquarters of Vuhledar – a mining town that before the war had 14,000 inhabitants, almost all of whom were evacuated, except for 107 residents who refused to leave their half-destroyed houses – were broadcast, the official confirmation of news that was expected at any moment from the moment the fighting began to be fought street by street a few days ago.

For the Russian military command, there was release of Vuhledar, at the price of causing countless losses to the enemy in troops and weapons; For its Ukrainian counterpart, authorized the maneuver to withdraw the units with the purpose of preserving personnel and combat equipment to take positions for subsequent actionswhile Russian troops suffered countless casualties.

The Russian army, which has superiority in troops and weapons, achieved with the conquest of Vuhledar its most important tactical victory in Donietsk since last February, when it completed the capture of Avdiivka, which in turn was the most notable success since the end of the battle for Bakhmut in May 2023.

The loss of Vuhledar for the Ukrainian troops, in the opinion of experts, It is not a catastrophe, although it could have long-term consequences (Yuri Fyodorov) nor It will generate serious changes on the combat fronts (Kiril Mikhailov) and even Although late, it is the best that the Ukrainian command could do in the face of the imminent risk that its troops would be surrounded (Nikolai Mitrokhin).

According to other analysts, It made no sense to hold on to defend a bastion that was more symbolic than necessary from the fortified lines that exist north of Vuhledar and the most important thing is that they managed to withdraw their units in time. (David Sharp).

Everyone agrees that the strategic importance of Vuhledar, located on high ground that allowed it to have a vast territory in its sights, was due to the fact that from there it was possible to attack with artillery the Donietsk-Volnovakha-Mariupol railway that Russia uses for supplies to his troops in Zaporizhia.

In that sense, Roman Svitan, retired colonel of the Ukrainian army, points out, the loss of Vuhledar It is a serious defeat for Ukraine because now the land corridor to Zaporizhzhia and, from there, to Kherson and Crimea can only be reached with expensive and few missiles from the systems [estadunidenses] Himars.”

Military blogger Aleksandr Kots, who publishes his dispatches in the Russian newspaper Komsomolskaya Pravda, considers a great triumph the taking of Vuhledar because, he maintains, It was the last Ukrainian city in the south of Donietsk, on which the entire Ukrainian defense of that area depended.

In disagreement with those who exaggerate the importance of Vuhledar, the Rybar channel, close to a Russian military intelligence group but critical of the Army General Staff, ironically: It turns out that Konstiantinovka, Dobropolie, Pokrovsk, Selidovo, Kurajovo, as well as Kramatorsk and Sloviansk with their industrial suburbs, are not fortified zones. Taking them is a piece of cake!

Everything indicates that the Russian army will try to advance towards the border between Donietsk and Zaporizhzhia, defended by the Ukrainian bastion of Velika Novosilka, scientists of the combat fronts estimate, but they do not believe that this could happen before it begins, even more Within a month, the so-called rasputitsa (the mud that the rains produce at this time of year when mixed with the snow) will take place.

Although Russia has been trying for months release Kurajovo, Selidovo and Pokrovsk, focusing their attacks on Toretsk, Chasiv Yar and other sectors of the respective fronts, specialists also do not believe it is feasible that there could soon be a major Russian offensive against the urban agglomeration of Kramatorsk, Sloviansk and the surroundings of both cities, because they would have to advance dozens of kilometers in open terrain, which makes tanks, armored cars and other heavy vehicles easy targets for artillery and drones.