The UK Ministry of Defence (MOD) has issued a defence intelligence update, detailing the recent capture of Vuhledar by Russian forces in southern Donetsk.

The strategic town, positioned at the intersection of the Zaporizhzhia and Donetsk fronts, was taken on 1 October 2024 after a renewed Russian offensive throughout September.

“On 01 October 2024, Russia took control of Vuhledar, southern Donetsk, which lies on the intersection between the two key fronts of Zaporizhzhia and Donetsk. The capture of the town came after a renewed Russian campaign through September 2024. By the end of the month, Russian forces had nearly encircled the town, leading to the withdrawal of Ukrainian Forces.”

The report highlights that Russian forces had been attempting to capture Vuhledar for two years, suffering significant losses in the process.

The town’s elevated position made it a strong defensive point for Ukrainian forces, but it ultimately fell due to the sustained pressure of the Russian campaign.

“Russia had been making sporadic attempts to seize Vuhledar for the last two years, sustaining heavy losses in the process. The town is situated on high ground which made it a more defensible position for Ukrainian forces.”

Looking ahead, the MOD suggests that Russian forces are likely to continue their advance, with potential targets in the surrounding area.

“It is likely that Russian forces will attempt to continue advancing beyond Vuhledar in the coming weeks. To the west, one likely objective is the town of Velyka Novosilka, Zaporizhzhia on the T0509 highway. 8km to the north is the town of Bohoiavlenka.”

George Allison
George has a degree in Cyber Security from Glasgow Caledonian University and has a keen interest in naval and cyber security matters and has appeared on national radio and television to discuss current events. George is on Twitter at @geoallison

13 COMMENTS

  1. 72nd Mechanized Brigade held the area for 2 years without relief, dwindling support from higher powers and other issues…
    Losses in other areas due to CO’s not willing to press forward and lack of organisation. Little to no Ukrianian advances anywhere else. And desperate pleas for equipment day after day😩

  2. Funny how we support Israel against external threats but leave UKR to slowly be forced out of its own soil whilst fighting alone with one arm tied behind its back.

    If we want to see an end to neo colonial Russian/Chinese aggression we should be getting right alongside UKR to say a robust “No” to Russia & the CCP.

    • Might want to address that plea to France, Italy and Spain rather than the UK which has given great support. Check out the Kiel Instute Ukraine aid eports. A new one due on 10 October will be interesting what it says.

    • UK cannot defend other countries on its own we are part of NATO which is a defensive organisation and stronger with its other members

    • We have donated many weapons and much support to the UKR, wheras any weapons that Israel armed forces recieve are purchased. Of course they get the benefit of UK and US air defence when Iran attacks but they are not getting donations on the level that UKR is.

    • Hypocrisy to the max, no? Ukraine had a chance to solve the problem many times. They thought NATO will protect them and each time refused. Merkel openly said that the Minsk agreement had purpose to buy time for Ukraine to arm. So, who is to blame? If they were treated Russians in a civilised way, this war wouldn’t have happened. Not to mention NATO aspirations while they had an agreement with Russia to not seek NATO membership, for return Russia to protect them. Refused to respect that, so even wanted NATO to deploy weapons in their country. Everything was fine till the US didn’t start messing there, as usually. The New York Times admitted CIA being active in Ukraine with multiple bases all with purpose to spy on Russia. What was Russia supposed to do, hmm? While on the other side Israel is committing genocide in the front of the world, going from one country to another destroying cities and nobody gives a damn, the US even shamelessly support them. The world is tired of such hypocrisy! This has to stop!

      • Russia needs to pull it’s troops out of any ukranian territory and Lebanon and the Palestinians need to kick out hezbolla and hamas and it all stops not rocket science is it

      • Who is to blame? Russia.

        Everything stopped being fine a long time ago. It’s been three decades since Russia agreed to recognise Ukraine’s sovereignty in exchange for Ukraine giving up nuclear weapons. It’s been two decades since Russia poisoned future Ukrainian president, Yushchenko, because Putin wasn’t keen on Ukrainian democracy. It’s been a decade since Russia invaded and annexed Crimea and sent little green men into the Donbas to ferment insurrection.

        How can American spies in the Ukraine efficiently spy on Russia? Why wouldn’t they use the spies they have in Russia to do that? It would be like the Russians using spies in Mexico to spy on the US. Doable, but very inefficient. Russia and the US employ many thousands of spies all over the world. There are estimated to be 100,000 foreign spies across the US working for about 80 different countries. Oddly enough, the US has never felt to need to invade Mexico because of it.

  3. Despite the losses over the last 2 years, Russia can still find the troops and equipment numbers to keep advancing. Question is how long can they keep doing this?

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