“Ugledar is everything”: experts spoke about new goals after the liberation of the city

It turned out why the Ukrainian Armed Forces will announce the loss of the fortress only tomorrow

One of the main fortified areas of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in Donbass, Ugledar, fell, unable to withstand the pressure of our attack aircraft. On Tuesday, October 1, our first units raised flags over the northwestern part of Ugledar. This area was one of the last concentration points of the Ukrainian Armed Forces group defending the city.

Earlier, on the night of October 1, the official evacuation of the 72nd separate mechanized brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, locked in the fortified city, began. But the order to withdraw was given by the command too late: all roads from the city were already intensively shelled by our artillery. The only way for Ukrainian Armed Forces soldiers to survive is to surrender.

The long-awaited moment in the liberation of Vugledar came on Tuesday, October 1, just in time for the professional holiday of the Ground Forces. Russian units entered the last street with several multi-storey buildings, which was under the control of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. In the afternoon, a message arrived that the high-rise buildings had been cleared, and the city had come under our control (there has been no official confirmation of this fact from the Ministry of Defense, however).

According to reports from the field, the 40th Separate Guards Marine Brigade of the Pacific Fleet liberated a block of high-rise buildings on the western side of Ugledar. Later, a video appeared of our marines raising Russian flags over the city administration building.

The battle for the city, which was key in the defense system of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the Donbass, became one of the most difficult in the history of the Northern Military District and required, as experts write, “not only serious resources, but also a rethinking of combat tactics.” In general, the battle for Ugledar lasted 31 months.

Preparations for the final operation began in early September. Then units of Far Eastern soldiers advanced in the Prechistovka area and towards Zolotaya Niva, broke through the enemy’s defenses in the Vodyanoy area and then entered the territory of the Yuzhnodonbasskaya No. 1 and Yuzhnodonbasskaya No. 3 mines.

Units of the 68th Army Corps advanced in the direction of Katerynivka. Later, our units quickly broke through to the north and began to surround Ugledar on three sides.

On September 30, Russian fighters occupied the “gray zone” - the western side of the city. The penultimate breakthrough was not only rapid, but also, it seems, unexpected for the Ukrainian Armed Forces soldiers, who were still hoping for something. On the same day, the enemy began to “crawl away” from Ugledar in small groups of two or three people. Not everyone was able to leave on foot through forest belts and fields.

“The Marines of the 40th Guards Brigade watched as several enemy groups in the area of ​​Shakhtyorsky Boulevard were waiting for evacuation, but the transport did not reach them (you understand why), as a result, the boys went on foot, and “not only everyone” got there. The reconnaissance officers of the 36th brigade and the 14th special forces brigade of the Vostok group had already raised their drones into the sky by that time,” this is how the military correspondents described the enemy’s withdrawal.

On the morning of September 1, reports appeared that the command of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, which all this time had been ignoring the requests of its soldiers to give an order to withdraw, nevertheless got in touch. But official permission to flee came too late.

As military expert Yuri Podolyaka writes, the release of Ugledar “can be considered a fait accompli.” However, a complete cleansing of the city lies ahead, which will take more than one day. And this means, the expert believes, that already on Wednesday, October 2, the pressure on the enemy’s last line of defense in the Bogoyavlenka-Novoukrainka area will increase manifold. Other experts also warn that a collapse of the front should not be expected after the liberation of Vugledar. In the area of ​​Bogoyavlenka and Novoukrainka, the Ukrainian Armed Forces have previously created a defensive line, which our units are “already testing for strength.”

At the same time, the enemy’s information resources, on the contrary, state that the Ukrainian Armed Forces do not have real good defensive structures in this direction, and our advance could provoke a collapse of the Ukrainian Armed Forces’ defense. Ukrainians themselves admit that the tactics of Ukrainian generals to plug holes in the defense with masses of soldiers may not work this time.

Ukrainian media, meanwhile, are in no hurry to acknowledge the loss of Ugledar. For some reason they are announcing the surrender of the city to the enemy on Wednesday, October 2. According to their reports, the last units of the Ukrainian Armed Forces will still try to break out of the surrounded city at night. At the same time, the Ukrainian Armed Forces do not have the opportunity to release the remnants of the 72nd brigade, since all reserves are involved in the Kursk operation.