APU withdrawn from Ugledar

Ukrainian outpost fell to Russian troops after months of fighting: Ukrainian troops are withdrawing from Ugledar on the eastern front line – Bloomberg.

The publication writes that “the coal city gives the Kremlin troops a strategic advantage.” It is also noted that the city has an advantageous location on the eve of winter: high-rise residential buildings are located on an elevated plain in the middle of flat fields. And it is located a few kilometers from the Russian Armed Forces-controlled railway from Donetsk to Crimea.

Map 1

The Strana publication talks about what the capture of Vugledar by the Russians means for the front. RThe Russians began to storm it two years ago. But the assaults were difficult, with heavy losses, but with little result. The main reason is that Ugledar is located on a hill, around which there is mainly steppe territory, extremely vulnerable to drones and artillery. At the same time, the city itself was built in such a way that it was convenient to defend it – a minimum of the private sector and many capital multi-storey buildings, as well as enterprises that were turned into fortified areas. Including two mines on the eastern and northeastern approaches to Ugledar (now they have already been captured).

The situation began to change not in favor of the Ukrainian Armed Forces after the Russians pushed through the defenses northeast of Ugledar, in the area of ​​Novomikhailovka and then Konstantinovka. Later Vodyanoye fell, and Prechistovka fell to the west of Ugledar. As a result, the flanks were pushed through, and the city fell – the garrison began to be withdrawn, fearing encirclement. Moreover, according to some military personnel, the order to leave was given too late, which led to large losses, since the garrison had to fight virtually in an operational environment.

Map 2

The Russian offensive on Ugledar occurred simultaneously with a relatively rapid advance in the Pokrovsky direction and to the south of it. And both of these counter movements, as Strana wrote at the beginning of August, are part of a single plan by the Russian command to reach the rear of the main defense lines of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, to the west and southwest of Donetsk.

This was an attempt to take a large section of the front southwest of Donetsk into a “cauldron”, advancing both from the north (Pokrovsk-Selidovo region) and from the south (from Ugledar or Velikaya Novoselka), in the direction west of Kurakhovo, in order to force Ukrainian troops retreat tens of kilometers to the west to the border of the Dnepropetrovsk and Zaporozhye regions. Which, in turn, will create the threat of a Russian offensive on a broad front towards the Dnieper and Zaporozhye.

And on the southern sector of the front in the Donetsk region, Ugledar was one of the strongest fortified areas, and its capture makes it easier for the Russians to implement their common plan. Now it all depends on which line, after the loss of Ugledar, they will be able to create a new front of defense for the Ukrainian Armed Forces. Now the key center of Ukrainian defense on the way to Kurakhovo is the village of Bogoyavlenka. Apparently, the main battle will now unfold for it, which will determine the further course of events on this section of the front.

But there is already at least one important consequence of the loss of Ugledar – the Russians have moved the Ukrainian Armed Forces away from strategically important logistics in southern Ukraine. Approximately 18 kilometers east of Ugledar there is a large railway line that connects Donetsk with Mariupol, Crimea, Zaporozhye and Kherson regions (Map 1).

Map 3

It was with the desire to secure this road that experts associated Russian attempts to take Ugledar back in 2022. At the same time, in order to establish communication with Mariupol from Donetsk, the Russians began to build an alternative road east of Volnovakha, but it has not been completed to this day. And the old railway turned into a fortified area – a “Tsar Train” was installed there, which served as a barrier in case of an attempt by the Ukrainian Armed Forces to attack from Ugledar to Volnovakha and Mariupol.

Now, with the cutting off of the Ugledar ledge, the Russians will be able to start using the railway from Donetsk to Mariupol. Which will generally simplify Russian logistics in southern Ukraine. It will also move the front line away from Mariupol and away from the roads along the coast of the Azov Sea.

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