Ukrainian forces are withdrawing from Vuhledar, the country's military leadership announced after more than two years of fighting. Ukraine describes it as Russia sending in large numbers of reservists to capture the city "at any cost".
"Due to the enemy's actions, there was a threat of the city being surrounded", the military announced.
Various war analysts were already proclaiming on Tuesday evening that Russia had finally managed to capture the city. Regime-loyal Russian so-called military bloggers announced that Vuhledar (they use the Russian name Ugledar) has been "liberated after heavy and sometimes tragic battles that lasted for over a year".
Video clips spread by bloggers and propaganda media show Russian soldiers raising Russian flags on various rooftops in the city.
Destroyed neighborhoods
Vuhledar has been under attack since the major outbreak of war and today consists of abandoned and shot-up concrete blocks of residential neighborhoods. Only a few hundred of the approximately 14,000 inhabitants remain.
There had been reports of a Ukrainian retreat from Vuhledar for several days, as well as reports that Russia was sending large reinforcements.
On Tuesday afternoon, the Ukrainian governor Vadym Filasjkin warned on TV that "the enemy had almost reached the city center". Local commanders in Ukrainian units in the city said they had not received any orders to retreat.
The Kremlin has not commented on the matter, but it is being highlighted in Russian propaganda media. There, claims are being spread that many Ukrainian soldiers were killed when they tried to withdraw.
Previous attempts
Vuhledar has a strategically important position on a hill in Donetsk, in a band of fortified towns that runs along the front line where it curves in southeastern Ukraine.
Russia has repeatedly tried to storm the city, including during the spring of 2023 when the Russian forces suffered enormous losses and the general leading them was eventually fired.
Ukrainian military sources on social media began writing tributes to the Ukrainian soldiers who have sacrificed their lives for Vuhledar on Tuesday, noting that Russia at least had to pay a high price.
