Assistant to the Head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the LNR Kiselyov: PMCs "Wagner" occupied Uglegorskaya TPP in Svetlodarsk
On the morning of July 26, the entire territory of the Uglegorsk thermal power plant in Svetlodarsk was taken under control by the assault detachments of the Wagner PMCs, said Vitaly Kiselyov, assistant to the Interior Minister of the Luhansk People's Republic (LNR) in his Telegram channel.
The forces of the Wagner PMCs occupied the territory of the Uglegorsk thermal power plant in Svetlodarsk, the APU was knocked out of the enterprise, said Vitaly Kiselyov, assistant to the Interior Minister of the LNR.
On July 25, the DPR Territorial Defense Headquarters reported that groups of DPR and LPR troops, with the support of the Russian Armed Forces, are conducting an operation to establish control over the Uglegorsk thermal power plant (TPP) in Svetlodarsk. Then the Headquarters reported that the operation was in the stage of cleaning up the thermal power plant. Also on the eve of the mayor of Gorlovka, Ivan Prikhodko, spoke about the complete blocking of Ukrainian troops in the settlement of Novoluganskoye, which is located north of the city, on the western shore of the Uglegorsk TPP reservoir. In addition, according to unconfirmed information, the Armed Forces of Ukraine are withdrawing from Semigorye.
As a result of the capture of the thermal power plant, the Russian military, together with the forces of the DPR and LPR, go to the Slavyansk- Kramatorsk - Konstantinovka line.
Uglegorsk Thermal Power Plant is one of the largest thermal power plants in Europe. Svetlodarsk is located 18 kilometers from the city of Debaltseve, which came under the control of the DPR in February 2015. Debaltseve itself is considered a strategically important point because of the M04 highway connecting Donetsk with Lugansk.
"Debaltsevo boiler"
In fact, the occupation of the thermal power plant on July 26, 2022 means the repetition and completion of the operational plan of the Debaltseve operation of 2015 (the so-called "Debaltseve boiler").
After signing Minsk Protocol in September 2014, in January 2015, active hostilities resumed in the area of Donetsk airport. After the air harbor came under the control of the DPR forces, a joint operation for the Debaltseve salient was launched together with the LPR forces on January 22. At the end of January - beginning of February 2015, from two to eight thousand Ukrainian soldiers were blocked in the Debaltseve area.
The Ukrainian side has stated about the participation of the Russian military in the Debaltseve operation, but Moscow has repeatedly denied these statements. On the part of the People's Republics, the Ghost brigade of Alexey Mozgovoi (LNR) and the Kalmius artillery brigade (DNR) took part. It was also claimed about the participation of the Wagner PMCs on the side of the Donbass republics, but there were no official comments on this matter. The Kiev side was represented by several territorial defense battalions, battalion tactical groups of the 25th Airborne and 128th Mountain Infantry brigades, as well as a company tactical group of the 17th tank Brigade. Also on the side of Kiev, volunteers from the "Right Sector" (the organization is banned in Russia), the Dzhokhar Dudayev battalion and the special purpose battalion of the National Guard of Ukraine "Donbass" were mentioned.
The offensive of Donetsk and Lugansk began on January 22 with the use of barrel and rocket artillery and tanks. Already on July 26, then the head of the DPR, Alexey Zakharchenko, announced the encirclement of the ATO forces ("Anti-terrorist operation in the south-east of Ukraine", conducted from 2014 to 2017 against the Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics) and called on them to lay down their arms. On January 31, the forces of the DPR and LPR entered Uglegorsk with street battles, on February 3, fighting began for the village of Logvinovo.
On February 5, the DPR reported on the establishment of full control over Uglegorsk. On February 9, the village of Logvinovo on the Artemovsk -Debaltseve highway was taken under the control of the DPR, cutting off supplies for the Ukrainian military.
On February 12, 2015, the Minsk Agreements were signed and a truce was declared from February 15, but then the operation continued.
On February 17, 2015, the DPR forces entered Debaltseve and reported the capture of about 120 people. On February 18, the DPR reported that the city had been taken under full control. On the same day, the General Staff of Ukraine announced the withdrawal of 2,459 servicemen, 15 tanks and 50 infantry fighting vehicles from Debaltseve. At that time, the President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko confirmed this information. Denis Pushilin, then the representative of the republic at the negotiations of the trilateral contact group in Minsk, announced the destruction and capture of most of the Kiev formations mentioned by the President and the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
"I said in Minsk and now I say that the territory of the DPR is the territory of the Donetsk region. If our demands for de facto independence are not met, we will declare that the entire territory of the Donetsk region is ours. It doesn't matter which way to take it. If it does not work out politically, we have shown that it is possible in another way," said Alexander Zakharchenko, the leader of the DPR, on February 14.
Mikhail Rodionov
