Russia reports gains in eastern Ukraine, putting pressure on Vuhledar stronghold

On September 25, the Russian Defense Ministry said its forces had captured the villages of Hostre and Hryhorivka. The Russian-appointed head of the Donetsk region, Denis Pushilin, said fighting was taking place in the town of Vuhledar, which had a pre-conflict population of 14,000.

Russian soldiers fire Pion self-propelled guns towards Ukrainian positions. Photo: Russian Defense Ministry

The governor of Ukraine's Donetsk region, Vadym Filashkin, said Russian troops had not yet reached the outskirts of Vuhledar but reconnaissance groups were operating there. "Our defenders are trying to drive them out. The town has not been taken," he said in a televised address.

Asked about reports that Russian forces had surrounded Vuhledar, a fortified mining town that has served as a Ukrainian defense base in the Donetsk region since the conflict began in 2022, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said: "This move is very positive."

Russian forces in eastern Ukraine advanced at their fastest pace in two years of conflict in August, despite a Ukrainian cross-border offensive into Russia's Kursk region aimed at forcing Moscow to divert troops.

Russia appears to be intensifying its assault on Vuhledar, but capturing the town would not significantly alter Moscow's prospects for further advance, analysts at the Washington-based Institute for the Study of War said.

Ngoc Anh (according to Reuters, RIA)

Source: https://www.congluan.vn/nga-bao-cao-nhieu-thang-loi-o-mien-dong-ukraine-ap-sat-cu-diem-vuhledar-post314025.html