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| Chris McGrath/Getty Images |
In a small coal-mining town on Ukraine’s eastern front line, a fight for strategic superiority is being waged in a battlefield steeped with symbolism as the one-year anniversary of Russia’s invasion nears.
The town of Vuhledar — meaning “gift of coal” — has emerged as a critical hot spot in the fight for Donetsk province that would give both sides, the Ukrainian forces who hold the urban centre, and the Russians positioned in the suburbs, a tactical upper hand in the greater battle for the Donbas region.
Located on an elevated plane that is one of the few high-terrain spots in the area, its capture would be an important step for Russia to disrupt Ukrainian supply lines. Securing Vuhledar would give Ukraine a potential launching pad for future counter-offensives south.
Then there is the symbolic weight: Vuhledar is close to the administrative border of Donetsk province, and winning it would play into Russia’s greater aim of controlling the region as a whole.
“The centre of gravity of the Russian military effort is in Donetsk, and Vuhledar is basically the southern flank of that,” said Gustav Gressel, a senior policy fellow with the European Council on Foreign Relation’s Berlin office.
The grinding fight to win the area has cost Russia manpower and weapons, as Ukrainians continue to hold up defensive lines. Russia sends battalion-sized scout groups to probe Ukrainian lines and shoot artillery toward their positions with an eye to pushing north toward the critical N15 highway, a key supply route. --->READ MORE HERE
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| AP Photo/Libkos |
Ukraine's air defense systems are at work in several major cities as Russia launches new attacks, likely as part of the early stages of its spring offensive as the war in Ukraine approaches one full year.
Explosions were heard in Kyiv, Kharkiv, Khmelnytskyi, Lviv, and other areas across Ukraine on Friday. Russian forces attacked critical infrastructure overnight in the country, and at least 17 missiles hit the southeastern city of Zaporizhzhia, according to Reuters.
State-owned power company Ukrenergo said its infrastructure was hit in the eastern, western, and southern regions of Ukraine, causing several power cuts, per BBC News. Russia has targeted critical infrastructure before, attacking energy grids and shutting civilians in the dark and cold.
The attacks came just after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky returned from Western Europe, where he appealed for aid (principally fighter jets) from Great Britain and the European Union. Supporters of Ukraine believe supplying the country with additional arms is paramount to helping stop Russia's invasion, especially as it mobilizes thousands of tanks and hundreds of fighter jets. --->READ MORE HEREFollow links below to +++++relevant+++++ and related stories:
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