Vuhledar situation doesn't determine events in Toretsk sector - analyst

Pavlo Lakiychuk, Head of Security Programs at the Center for Global Studies Strategy XXI, said this on Espreso TV.

"The main focus of the enemy's efforts at this stage of the war is concentrated on the large Donetsk direction, starting north of Chasiv Yar. For the enemy, this is the right flank of the Pokrovsk salient, the main direction to Pokrovsk, and the left flank - the Kurakhove direction up to Vuhledar, which has already been captured by the enemy. It is not entirely correct to say that the events in Vuhledar determine the events in the Toretsk sector. The enemy's capture of Vuhledar is more about their left flank, where at Kurakhove the enemy is rushing to the Kurakhove reservoir, trying to cut our defense between Pokrovsk and Vuhledar into two parts and destroy them. To do this, the Russian army intends to push the Ukrainian Armed Forces away from the railroad, the Volnovakha junction, securing its logistics in the southeast, and by cutting up Ukrainian forces, secure its left flank. The right flank is the New York-Toretsk battle," he said.

What is happening now was predictable after the enemy's breakthrough from Pivnichne to Toretsk, a breakthrough into the center of Toretsk, which greatly complicated the defense of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, noted Lakiychuk.

"The Ukrainian Armed Forces have to hold the defense along the front, along the eastern outskirts of the city, and drive the enemy out of the hollows from the southern and northern directions simultaneously. The lack of forces and the enemy's significant advantage in personnel and munitions means that the fighting is increasingly moving to the city center," he added.

According to him, in this relatively narrow section of the frontline, the enemy will try to increase its efforts in the coming weeks and months, to succeed in breaking through to Pokrovsk.

"There is no point in predicting the course of the fighting any further, because Pokrovsk is still standing. It's not worth saying that the Russians will go to Kostiantynivka or Druzhkivka if they capture Pokrovsk, because the Ukrainian Armed Forces are holding the line. However, Russia's tactical advance continues, it is improving its positions, expending incredible efforts," Lakiychuk summarized.

• On the night of October 3 to 4, it became known that Russians were making progress in Toretsk, Donetsk region.
• On October 7, Anastasia Bobovnikova, a spokeswoman for the Luhansk troops grouping, reported that Russians had entered the eastern outskirts of Toretsk, and that fighting was going on for every entrance.
• It was also reported that there is no decrease in hostile intensity in the Pokrovsk sector, especially after the capture of Vuhledar.