Lives matter more than any buildings: Zelenskyy on Ukrainian army's withdrawal from Vuhledar

He said this during a joint press conference with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte in Kyiv, Ukrinform reports.

"We cannot stop the Russian Federation without appropriate weapons. When they are destroying the positions of our soldiers, we need to protect their lives, because they are more important than any buildings. They are our people, they are citizens of Ukraine. Therefore, it is very right that they withdraw and can save themselves," Zelenskyy said.

He also called on international partners to provide Ukraine with "the ability to stop Russia with this or that weapon" and noted that there is currently a backlog of arms supplies.

"Ukraine needs to strengthen its positions at the front so that we can increase pressure on Russia for the sake of real, fair diplomacy. Therefore, we need a sufficient quantity and quality of weapons, including long-range weapons, which, in my opinion, our partners are already delaying," the president emphasized.

Ukrainian Armed Forces’ withdrawal from Vuhledar

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

However, on October 2, the Defense Forces officially withdrew from Vuhledar, Donetsk region, in order to preserve personnel and military equipment and to take up a position for further operations.

A soldier with the 72nd Brigade shared information on the withdrawal of Ukrainian soldiers from Vuhledar on the basis of anonymity.

"Before the brigade was redeployed to the Donetsk region, we had a fully operational unit and a full staff. But over two years of fighting without rotations and rest, we turned into an incapacitated unit, the brigade was wiped out," said the Ukrainian soldier.