The battle of Vuhledar: How Russia captured Ukrainian fortress in southern Donbas

How did it all start?

Vuhledar is one of the key cities in Volnovakha district of Donetsk Oblast. It is critically important, as it opens the way to two other important settlements at once – Kurakhove, where the Russians are also trying to break through, and Velyka Novosilka, an outpost on the border between Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia oblasts, the loss of which would create problems for both regions.

In 2022, Vuhledar stood strong. Later, the Ukrainian command transferred the 72nd Black Zaporozhians Separate Mechanized Brigade, which had previously had significant success in battles in Kyiv Oblast. For a long time, the Russians were unable to affect the Ukrainian defense here.

Moreover, in June 2022, Ukrainian troops attempted a counteroffensive near Vuhledar to push back the occupiers. After that, a number of settlements south of the city changed hands.

One of the most active attempts to capture Vuhledar took place in February 2023. At that time, the 155th Marine Brigade of the Russian Pacific Fleet was attacking the city. In fact, it carried out active mechanized assaults on the positions of the Ukrainian military for the entire month, but did not achieve its main goal – the complete capture of the city – and the Russian forces, on the contrary, were actually defeated.

What happened now?

In late August and early September of this year, the situation around Vuhledar deteriorated significantly. This time, the aggressor abandoned frontal attacks, as it did in the winter of 2023, and used a tactic that had already been tested on the Pokrovsk axis – to take the city in a "pincer" and cut off supply routes.

Therefore, in late August, the Russians began to break through in the direction of the village of Vodyane, east of Vuhledar, and to Prechystivka, west of the city. In this way, they pinned down the city and launched an offensive from both sides.

One of the main defense lines on the outskirts of Vuhledar was the Pivdennodonbaska-1 and Pivdennodonbaska-3 mines, located in the south and east of the city, respectively.  

These positions could not be held for long as the Russians outnumbered the defenders, so they were able to push the Ukrainian units out. One of the mines was subsequently blown up.

Then the fighting moved into the city and lasted for about two weeks. On October 1, Russian propaganda Telegram channels posted a video of the occupation forces hanging their tricolors. On the afternoon of October 2, the Khortytsia Operational-Strategic Troop Grouping officially announced the withdrawal of troops from Vuhledar due to the threat of encirclement.

"Having suffered numerous losses as a result of prolonged fighting, the enemy did not give up trying to capture Vuhledar. Trying to take control of the city at any cost, it managed to send reserves to conduct flanking attacks that exhausted the defense of the Ukrainian Armed Forces.

As a result of the enemy's actions, the city was under risk of encirclement. The higher command authorized a maneuver to withdraw units from Vuhledar in order to save personnel and military equipment and take up a position for further operations," the military said.

The Russians were able to capture the city for several reasons. First of all, because of their numerical superiority. The head of the unmanned systems battalion of the 72nd Brigade, Andriy Nazarenko, said that five brigades took part in the assault on Vuhledar, which, according to the military, were "fresh". In total, during the entire defense of the city, the Ukrainian military destroyed nine enemy brigades.

At the same time, Nazarenko explains that the Russians did not capture the city at once. According to him, the enemy has been actively storming the flanks on the Vuhledar axis, namely in the direction of Vodyane, for the past six months, but managed to capture the village only in September. 

Andriy Kovalenko, head of the National Security and Defense Council's Center for Countering Disinformation, also mentioned the attacks on the flank. According to him, the city was easy to defend because it was located at a height. However, the Russians managed to destroy it with the help of guided aerial bombs and thus move to the flank.

"Unfortunately, the KAB bombs and aviation are the only things that allow the enemy infantry to move," Kovalenko said.

What does the loss of Vuhledar mean?

With the loss of this city, Russian troops captured the dominant height on which Vuhledar stands, which will allow the occupation forces to shoot at the surrounding countryside, as there are no buildings there at all. In addition, the Russians are getting closer to the next town in Donetsk Oblast, Velyka Novosilka, which, in particular, was the starting point for the summer counteroffensive of the Defense Forces in 2023.

Vuhledar will also give the Russian army a logistical advantage. In the fall of 2023, the occupation administration began building a new railroad from Rostov-on-Don to the temporarily occupied Volnovakha in Donetsk Oblast, which became part of the Donetsk-Volnovakha-Mariupol railroad. This railroad stretches all the way to Crimea and is one of the main supply routes for Russian troops in the temporarily occupied territories. The loss of Vuhledar will mean that the railroad through Volnovakha will be able to operate more or less fully, and it will be impossible to destroy it with conventional artillery.

At the same time, the American Institute for the Study of War believes that the capture of Vuhledar will not radically change the course of Russian offensive operations in the western part of Donetsk Oblast, as this city, according to analysts, is not a particularly important logistics hub, and because Russian troops controlled most of the main roads leading to Vuhledar even before the city was completely captured.