Ukrainian forces are withdrawing from the frontline town of Vuhledar in eastern Ukraine after more than two years of grinding battle, military officials have said.
Vuhledar, a town perched atop a tactically significant hill that Ukrainian forces fought tooth and nail to keep, is the latest urban settlement to fall to the Russians.
As the war stretches deep into its third year, the Ukrainian army is gradually being pushed backward in the eastern Donetsk province.
It follows a vicious summer campaign along the eastern front that saw Kyiv cede several thousand square kilometres of territory as the Russian army hacked its way westward, obliterating towns and villages with missiles, glide bombs, artillery and drones.
Ukraine's Khortytsia ground forces formation, which commands eastern regions including Donetsk, said in a statement posted on Telegram it was withdrawing troops from Vuhledar to "protect military personnel and equipment."
"In an attempt to take control of the city at any cost, (Russian) reserves were directed to carry out flanking attacks, which exhausted the defense of the units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine,” the statement said.
“As a result of the enemy's actions, there arose a threat of encircling the city.”
The tactical significance of the town, situated at the confluence of two major roads, is two-fold. Dominant heights and proximity to railway lines offer Moscow greater protection for their own logistics routes, as well as giving a better vantage point for attacks against Ukrainian forces and supply lines feeding the south.
Its capture is another notch in Moscow's belt, bringing it closer to the key logistics hub of Pokrovsk.
