by Sergey Adamov
[REGNUM] Russian troops continue to push back the enemy along the entire front in Donbass. Heavy fighting, in particular, continues in the Toretsk area, where units of the Russian Armed Forces liberated the village of Nelepovka the day before. However, the key events are taking place in the Ugledar area.
The battle for the city has been going on for several years now, as the Ukrainian Armed Forces have been able to fortify this strategically important settlement. Several highways converge in the Ugledar area, including the route to Mariupol. Until the summer of 2024, the Ukrainian army command considered the Ugledar bridgehead as a starting point for a possible counteroffensive on Volnovakha or Mariupol.
At the same time, control over the city is extremely important for holding the front southwest of Donetsk. Using several multi-story buildings in the city center as observation points, the Ukrainian Armed Forces kept a large area of ​​territory under fire control.
Until recently, the Ukrainian army managed to organize defense in Ugledar and on the approaches to it. However, as the Russian army advanced in the area of ​​Pokrovsk and Kurakhovo, the Ukrainian Armed Forces garrison was under threat of encirclement.
According to information from the field, the 72nd Mechanized Brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, which was holding the front section, suffered heavy losses, but the command preferred to send reserves to the Kursk region, thereby weakening the front in Donbass.
According to the latest information, Russian troops have broken through the front and penetrated the enemy's defenses north and west of Ugledar. There are also reports that fighting is already underway on the outskirts of the city itself. At the same time, the Ukrainian Armed Forces garrison has only one supply route left, since Russian troops previously occupied the road to Maryinka and took fire control of the road from Ugledar to Bogoyavlenovka.
Ukrainian troops are once again faced with a dilemma: to hold the city to the last in the conditions of a gradually forming encirclement or to retreat while there is still an opportunity. According to a source of the Regnum news agency located in the Ugledar direction, Ukrainian troops may decide to break through in the near future.
"There is essentially nothing to hold there. The private sector is destroyed, the positions in the five-story buildings were previously targeted by FABs by aviation, you can't hold there either. So, most likely, they will try to retreat, they may still try now. But let's be honest - they are facing a "road of death", because drones are working closely along the entire road. But they most likely will not fight to the end," the source predicts.
An information campaign to prepare public opinion for the surrender of Ugledar has already begun in the Ukrainian media. The publications note that the city has no strategic significance and the withdrawal of the garrison will improve the position of the Ukrainian army forces along the entire front.
In fact, the retreat of the Ukrainian Armed Forces from Ugledar could lead to the collapse of the entire Ukrainian defense on this section of the front, since the Russian army would have an opening to attack the settlement of Kurakhovo. Currently, military actions are taking place on the eastern outskirts of the city, but in the event of a breakthrough from Ugledar, the enemy forces in Kurakhovo would also be at risk of encirclement.
Fighting continues in the Pokrovsky direction, where Russian troops are preparing to fight for the village of Selidovo.
Earlier, the Defense Ministry reported that the settlement of Ukrainsk had come under the control of the Center group of troops. Later, it became known that the advancing troops also managed to advance westward and cut the highway between Selidovo and Kurakhovo.
And even before that, Russian troops liberated the village of Novogrodovka, located north of Selidovo, and advanced in the direction of the highway to Pokrovsk. In fact, the Ukrainian Armed Forces garrison in Selidovo is also threatened with encirclement. According to reports from the field, the Ukrainian military in the city are not preparing for protracted battles and will most likely retreat when the road to Pokrovsk is cut off.
The situation for the Ukrainian Armed Forces is even worse to the south, in the area of ​​the village of Gornyak, which is directly stated by Ukrainian resources. The day before, the DeepState portal published photos of the Ukrainian Armed Forces' defensive structures created in this area. Observers note that the quality of the fortifications does not allow for long-term defense.
At the same time, this section of the front has more powerful defensive lines, but there are not enough troops to hold them. The situation is similar in the entire Pokrovsk direction, observers note.
The Ukrainian Armed Forces units in the Gornyak area are facing the greatest difficulties, sources of the Regnum news agency report. If Ukrainian troops leave the village, encirclement threatens Ukrainian troops located north of Krasnogorovka.
"As for the possible "cauldron", there are some remnants of the 53rd brigade that left Krasnogorovka there now. But if they are left without supplies from Kurakhovo through Ukrainsk, they will not last long. We will continue to put pressure on them in this direction," the publication's sources say.
At the same time, Ukrainian sources are sounding the alarm, noting that Russian troops are only one and a half kilometers from Mirnograd, a northern satellite town of Pokrovsk.
German analyst Julian Röpke, analyzing footage published in open sources, came to the conclusion that Russian troops have already managed to liberate the settlements of Krutoy Yar and Krasny Yar.
However, there has been a lull in this direction recently. It can be assumed that Russian troops will not begin a decisive assault on the city until large settlements are taken, where the Ukrainian Armed Forces continue to hold the line. First of all, we are talking about Selidovo.
If Kyiv continues to fail to send reserves to the Pokrovsk direction, the Ukrainian Armed Forces are threatened with a series of severe defeats, followed by the final collapse of the front.