Russia seizes Ukraine's Vuhledar after failed assaults for 2.5 years - ISW

The Institute for the Study of War reports.

Thus, ISW, referring to a “well-known” Russian milblogger, writes that the Russian decision to attack near Vuhledar in March 2022 was rash, as Russian forces would be “stuck” in the settlement.

It is noted that in October-November 2022 and January-February 2023, Russia made at least two major offensive attempts to capture Vuhledar, both of which resulted in heavy losses of personnel and military equipment.

According to analysts, Russia's previous defeats near Vuhledar led, in part, to the depletion of the 155th Marine Brigade.

Some Russian sources expressed doubts that Russian troops would be able to move forward quickly and achieve operationally significant breakthroughs immediately after capturing Vuhledar.

“Russia's seizure of Vuhledar is unlikely to fundamentally alter the course of offensive operations in western Donetsk Oblast, largely because Vuhledar is not a particularly crucial logistics node and because Russian forces have controlled most of the main roads running into Vuhledar prior to October 1, meaning that Russian forces have already had the ability to interdict Ukrainian logistics in this part of the front to some extent,” analysts added.

• On Tuesday, October 1, the OSINT portal DeepState said that Russian terrorists managed to capture the city of Vuhledar in the Donetsk region. Suspilne's sources in the brigade defending the city deny the full occupation.