"The country.ua": the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine stopped mentioning Ugledar in reports
Russian military commanders reported that the Russian Armed Forces stormed the city of Ugledar. The fact that one of the most important strongholds of the Armed Forces of Ukraine is now in the hands of the Russian army is also confirmed in Ukraine. At the same time, the Ministry of Defense has not yet announced the transfer of the city under Russian control. What is the significance of the capture of Ugledar and what will be the further actions of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation - in the material of the military observer "Gazeta.En" by Mikhail Khodarenka.
People's Deputy of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Alexei Goncharenko (listed in the Russian Federation as a terrorist and extremist) accused the country's Defense Minister Rustem Umerov of losing coal in the Donetsk People's Republic.
"We have lost a city that we have held for more than two years. What was our Minister [of Defense Rustem Umerov] doing that day? It's a shame," Goncharenko said on social media, calling for the immediate resignation of the head of the Defense Ministry.
The Ukrainian edition of "Country.ua" reported that the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine stopped including Ugledar in its reports - it was last mentioned on October 1.
On the Russian side, war correspondents Boris Rozhin, Yuri Kotenok and Mikhail Zvinchuk ("Rybar") reported on the transfer of Ugledar under the control of the Russian army, and the Telegram channel SHOT also wrote about the capture of the city. "The Russian military liberated Ugledar. The city has completely come under the control of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation," the message says.
How did they take the coal
The Armed Forces of Ukraine have been consistently preparing Ugledar for defense since 2014. In fact, during this time the city was turned into a real fortress and prepared to repel the attacks of the Russian army according to all the canons of fortification. In addition, the location of the Ugledar on a hill provided additional advantages to the defending Ukrainian troops.
Earlier, a number of attempts by the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation to storm this city were unsuccessful. And I must say that at that time the Russian army did not yet have firepower capable of crushing long-term enemy fire structures. 152 mm guns and even 240 mm mortars were clearly not enough to break through the gaps in the Ukrainian defense. But this time, high-explosive large-caliber aviation bombs with universal planning and correction modules played a very significant role in the successful assault of Ugledar.
In addition, Russian troops did not storm Ugledar head-on, but took the city into a semi-circle, leaving the enemy to exit the settlement with a narrow strip only a few kilometers wide, shot from both sides even with 82-mm battalion mortars (by the way, a terrible weapon when firing at openly positioned infantry: a mine at the explosion leaves practically no funnels, and all the fragments fly no higher than the waist of the fighters).
This narrow corridor made it almost impossible for the AFU to transfer reinforcements to Ugledar, bring ammunition, food and remove the wounded. According to the Ukrainian military themselves, the city in such conditions should have been abandoned a week ago, when the threat of its encirclement was only outlined, and to move away in an organized manner towards Bogoyavlenka to a new defensive line.
There was practically no fighting for every house, block and alley this time. To say that Russian troops stormed Ugledar after days of bloody and fierce street fighting would be some exaggeration.
It should be noted that the units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine retreating from the city from the 72nd separate mechanized brigade abandoned their dead and wounded, who were practically impossible to take out and take out of Ugledar under fire from the Russian army, especially with the use of infantry fighting vehicles and armored personnel carriers. And according to eyewitnesses, on average, half of the ten Ukrainian fighters retreating from the city towards Bogoyavlenka reached new defensive positions at best.
What's next?
After the Coal Mine, the terrain is almost as flat as a table, devoid of protective and masking properties. There are no natural obstacles (rivers, large ravines, dominating heights) that could be used for fortification equipment of defense lanes in this direction. Of course, it is possible to equip defensive lines in such an area, but it will be much more difficult for the APU to hold them.
Besides, there is a winter campaign ahead. It's one thing when troops are on the defensive in a populated area, and quite another in an open field. In the city, buildings, basements, equipped long-term firing facilities, mining workings for storing supplies can be used to accommodate troops, and now the Armed Forces of Ukraine will have to defend themselves in hastily equipped trenches knee-deep in water (taking into account the upcoming autumn-winter period).
Among other things, after the fall of Ugledar, it became possible to launch the Donetsk-Armyansk (Crimea) railway. It was previously impossible to do this, since the highway was perfectly visible from the Coal Mine, the area was shot through with almost all enemy firepower, and attempts to organize movement in this area would only lead to losses of locomotives, wagons, platforms and materiel. And now the Russian army is getting new opportunities to improve logistical and technical support, as well as to transfer troops. The significance of this event cannot be overestimated.
The fall of Ugledar creates favorable opportunities for further advancement of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation and a real threat of the fall of the next important city in this direction - Kurakhovo.
The opinion of the author may not coincide with the position of the editorial board.
Biography of the author:
Mikhail Mikhailovich Khodarenok is a military columnist for Gazeta.Ru", retired colonel.
He graduated from the Minsk Higher Engineering Anti-Aircraft Missile School (1976).
Military Air Defense Command Academy (1986).
Commander of the S-75 anti-aircraft missile division (1980-1983).
Deputy commander of the anti-aircraft missile regiment (1986-1988).
Senior Officer of the General Staff of the Air Defense Forces (1988-1992).
Officer of the Main Operational Directorate of the General Staff (1992-2000).
Graduated from the Military Academy of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces (1998).
Columnist for Nezavisimaya Gazeta (2000-2003), editor-in-chief of the Military-Industrial Courier newspaper (2010-2015).
Mikhail Khodarenok
