The capture of Torecko opens the way for the Russian army to the big cities of Donbas such as Kramatorsk and Slavyansk. Zelenskyy ordered Ukrainian troops to do “everything possible” to minimize Russia’s advance.
09.10.2024 00:55
Photo: SITA/AP, Andrii Marienko
Sappers inspect the site of a Russian guided bomb attack that damaged multi-storey residential buildings in Kharkiv, Ukraine, on October 8, 2024.
Highlights
- The war in Ukraine lasts 959 days
1:00 According to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi, the operation of Ukrainian troops in Russia’s Kursk region has been going on for the third month and is necessary to create pressure on Russia.
“Today (Tuesday) a separate and long report of the Commander-in-Chief (Syrsky) was also presented on our direct actions, on all defensive operations, as well as on the Kursk operation – the fighting in the Kursk region has been going on for the third month and we are putting the necessary pressure on Russia in this area . Ukrainian intelligence chief Budanov also presented a detailed report on the processes taking place within the enemy’s system and our influence on them. There was also a report by Defense Minister Umerov about aspects of our cooperation with partners.”
0:55 Russian forces penetrated Torecko and managed to reach the Centralnaya shaft, said in a radio interview the spokesman of the Ukrainian Lyuť (Rage) brigade, Artem Dzhepko, according to the Unian agency. The shaft is located in the center of the city.
“Russian soldiers are in the city. It’s nonsense to say otherwise, it really is. They advanced all the way to the shaft,” he said. According to him, the situation is constantly changing, for example, in one residential building, the ground floor was controlled by Ukrainians, while the first floor was controlled by Russians. According to the spokesman, it may happen that Russian soldiers occupy two or three houses, but a few hours later the Ukrainians push them out of these positions. If the Russians were to seize Torecko, they would be within reach of Slovyansk and Kramatorsk, and Ukrainian soldiers are aware of that and are trying to prevent anything like that from happening, added Džepko.
Toreck has been a front-line town for ten years, it is located near the Ukrainian territories seized by Russian-backed separatists in 2014. Since then, it has become a mainstay of Ukrainian fortifications. For Moscow, the capture of the city, which until 2016 was called Derzhinsk, would mean, according to Reuters, getting closer to President Vladimir Putin’s goal of fully controlling the Ukrainian Donbas. Toreck is important for the defense of the Konstantinovka-Kramatorsk agglomeration and would be the starting point for a possible Ukrainian offensive towards Gorlovka.
According to Ukrainian military analysts, the fall of Toretsk, which is located on a hill, would allow Moscow to block key logistical routes connecting the operational rear of Ukrainian troops in the area with the front lines, including the main road from Pokrovskoe to Kostiantynivka.
The Russian Ministry of Defense did not immediately comment on the matter. On Monday, it announced that its forces had caused damage to personnel and equipment in several villages in the area, including the vicinity of Torecko.
Russian military bloggers, including a group of military analysts associated with the prominent Telegram channel Rybar, said Russian troops were advancing toward the city center.
The advance of Russian forces, as well as the capture of Vuhledar last week, now demonstrates Russia’s significant superiority in people and technology at a time when Ukraine is asking its Western partners for more weapons.
Russia, which now controls less than a fifth of Ukraine’s territory, has been advancing towards Torecka since August, conquering village after village along this stretch. More and more often, it uses highly destructive guided bombs.
“Units of Army Group South continued their advance and liberated the village of Zorjanoe,” the Russian Ministry of Defense said on Telegram, referring to the Ukrainian village of Zorjane in the Donetsk region. At the same time, according to him, Russian soldiers occupied the village of Zolota Nyva, which is located in the same area west of Vuhledar. Moscow presents the occupation of Ukrainian territory to the Russian public as “liberation”.
Given the territorial losses, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has ordered top military officials to do “everything possible” to minimize Russia’s advance. The commander of the Ukrainian army, Oleksandr Syrskyi, said on Wednesday that he spoke by phone with his American counterpart, Charles Brown, about the situation at the front and the supply of additional weapons.
Source: spravy.pravda.sk
