Russian troops have reached the center of Ugledar, a bastion of strategic positions in the eastern part of Ukraine, which has withstood Russian attacks for more than two years, the regional governor announced today.
In its report, Reuters presents some key moments surrounding the city and the battle for it.
What is Ugledar?
Ugledar, which means “Coal Gift“ – is a mining town in eastern Ukraine's Donetsk region. Before the war, the city had a population of about 14,000 people. Today, almost all its inhabitants have fled. The town was built around Soviet-era mines in the mid-1960s. Today there are two mines in it with significant reserves of coal.
Why does Russia want to take over Ugledar?
Moscow says the Donetsk region is one of four Ukrainian ones it has annexed after 2022, which Kiev rejects as illegal. Moscow considers taking control of Ugledar a major stage in the integration of the entire region into Russia.
Control of the city, long regarded by the Russians as one of Ukraine's most heavily fortified positions to break through, is seen as important by both sides, both because of its elevated position and because it stands at the junction between the eastern and southern fronts, giving it added importance as regards supplies to both armies.
While the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) had full control of Ugledar, they used it as a position to fire at Russian logistics lines in the area.
The city is close to the railway line from Crimea to the industrial Donbass region, which consists of Donetsk and Luhansk regions, most of which is controlled by Moscow.
The capture of Ugledar, which Russia presents as the last Ukrainian stronghold in the southern part of the Donetsk region, will open the way for Russian forces to advance in other directions.
How did Russia move to capture Ugledar?
Russian forces are trying to defeat Ukrainian forces by gradually encircling them in the city, which will make supplies for Ukrainian forces more difficult, as well as the rotation of their units in and out of the city. According to Russian military bloggers, this has even already happened.
Russian forces had previously made at least four significant attempts to capture Ugledar, but were repulsed by the fiercely resisting 72nd Mechanized Brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
Neither side has disclosed its losses, but Ukrainian officials say those suffered by Russia during the previous failed attempt to capture the city were significant. Moscow says Ukraine has also paid a high price in human lives to keep Ugledar.
What does Ugledar look like today?
Fierce fighting since 2022 has left most of the city devastated. Today's pictures of the Russian forces waving their flag from the roof of an administrative center suffer in its center, a dilapidated building with broken windows.
The city's deputy mayor Maksym Verbovsky told Ukrainian state media a year ago that every building in the city was damaged, as was the entire infrastructure. He said fewer than 500 civilians, including three children and many pensioners, remained inside. All children and most adults have since been evacuated.