"The situation is very difficult": expert explains what is happening in Vuhledar. Map

The situation around the town of Vuhledar in the Donetsk region is very threatening. The enemy has managed to approach the city from the western and eastern flanks, forming a semi-encirclement.

And the reasons why this situation became possible are not so much the quality of the fortifications near the city as the lack of personnel defending Vuhledar. This was stated in an interview with OBOZ.UA by former Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Lieutenant General Ihor Romanenko.

According to him, the threat of Russian capture of Vuhledar is greater than ever.

"The situation there is very difficult. For two years, the Defense Forces held their positions, but now the enemy has managed to advance and enter the flank from the rear from the east and the west. A semi-encirclement, or as it is popularly called, a "cauldron" has been formed. The enemy has approached the outskirts of the city. Today the situation there is the worst compared to previous attacks on the city," noted Romanenko.

At the same time, he emphasized that the reasons for the deterioration of the situation around the city cannot be reduced to insufficiently reliable fortifications in the area. The key problem is the lack of people.

"The issue is not only in the fortifications. First of all, the issue is the personnel. The law on mobilization does not quickly resolve the issue of manning the brigades that are already in combat and creating reserve brigades. Therefore, even if there are appropriate engineering facilities, we need trained personnel, which we lack," the former Deputy Chief of the General Staff emphasized.

As a reminder, on September 24, Russia announced that its army had launched an assault on Vuhledar. During the assault, the occupiers use a huge number of anti-aircraft gunships and aircraft, which allows them to advance.

Western media, including Forbes, began to claim that a Ukrainian brigade of about two thousand people was "under the threat of encirclement in the city."

The very next day, on September 25, the Land Forces stated that Vuhledar was not currently surrounded, but that there was an advance by the occupiers.

Meanwhile, the ISW said that the Russians could capture the city. However, they noted that even if Russian troops capture Vuhledar, it is unlikely to provide them with a significant operational advantage for further attacks in the western part of Donetsk region. Although, according to the Russian command, the offensives near Vuhledar and Pokrovsk are mutually reinforcing and are intended to stretch Ukrainian forces on a wider front in the Donetsk region.

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