As the foreign support for the Ukrainian war effort diminishes by the day, coupled with the lack of material conditions (such as missiles, drones, artillery, etc) and – most importantly the depletion of the manpower involved in the fight, the situation is getting close to the point of no return.
Barely a week has passed since the conquest of Ugledar, and now the Russian Federation forces are already inside the bastion city of Toretsk, a testimony to the depletion of Kiev’s defenses in the vital Donetsk region.
Russian sources report that Ukrainian defenders are getting pushed out of Toretsk, another critically important city in the Donbas.
Russian forces have reached the center of Toretsk and the area of the administrative quarter, the school and the police buildings of the city.
The indoor market has also been reached, and there’s heavy fighting inside the city.
The geographical location of Toretsk makes it the perfect fortress, as the city was built on a hill surrounded by water obstacles from three sides.
Sputnik on Telegram reported:
“‘Toretsk is a very important hub from the point of view of logistical and tactical support for [Ukrainian] troops’, Reserve Colonel Rustem Klupov, a veteran of military intelligence and Hero of Russia, tells Sputnik.
‘This is a heavily fortified area, which they will most likely hold until the end in order to contain our forces as much as possible, because if they do not contain them there, then the entire [Ukrainian] defense will crumble’.”
The Colonel notes that the Russian advances towards Toretsk have been pushed since spring, with the end goal of speeding up the liberation of the Donetsk region.
“‘Toretsk is already in an operational semi-encirclement’, says Klupov, adding that the city’s liberation will also curb Ukraine’s ability to shell Donetsk, Gorlovka and other residential areas of the [Donetsk region].”
Klupov is deeply critical of the Ukrainian military leadership, saying that its incompetence provides additional advantages for the Russian offensive.
“‘The Ukrainian side is suffering very serious losses in command personnel. And they cannot fill this gap… At the operational-strategic and strategic level, they often undermine themselves by top brass replacements. They replaced [Commander-in-Chief Valery] Zaluzhny with [Oleksandr] Syrsky and the situation at the front has not changed at all or maybe it has even gotten worse’, the pundit concludes.”
Heavy battles rage inside Toretsk.
Other Russian sources report that in the area of the administrative quarter, fighting is going on from house to house, and there’s a battle for the school, the Palace of Culture and administrative buildings adjacent to the central bus station.
Condotierro reported:
“The storming operations in the city moved to the very center, to the area of the central market and the buildings of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the city administration. The RF Armed Forces have taken control of the ‘Centralnaya’ mine administration and part of the private sector to the north of the center.
In addition, the RF Armed Forces are storming the private sector between the southern outskirts of the city and the mount Leonidovka bypassing the Zabalka micro district.”
It is estimated that at this point, half of the city is under Russian control.
The conquest of Toretsk is another step in the crumbling of the Ukrainian defenses in the east that has been accelerating of late.
Intel Slava Z reported:
“Let me be your proverbial canary in the coal mine.
Ukraine is very close to losing control over Toretsk, is experiencing overwhelming pressure in the Sevesk salient, is in a near encirclement around Hirnky, and has a collapsing Oskal bridgehead on its hands.
These mounting issues battlefield issues compounded by the complete drop in support, horribly low morale and strengthening Russian military are setting up the pre-conditions for a massive strategic defeat of the AFU in eastern Ukraine. The snowball is rolling down the hill, growing in size and gaining momentum.”
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The post A Week After Ugledar, Russian Forces Now Enter Hilltop Bastion of Toretsk in Another Example of the Crumbling of the Ukrainian Defenses in Donetsk Region appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.
