Ukrainian forces were repelling Russian army attacks within the crucial city of Toretsk, Kyiv's military said late Wednesday, as Russia continued its grinding push in Ukraine's east.
Kremlin troops have been seizing villages by village in Ukraine's industrial heartland in an effort to weaken crucial defenses and threaten transport lines vital to Kyiv's military.
Street battle has been occurring in Toretsk, a front-line city since 2014, with Russian soldiers surging ahead and "completely erasing" homes and infrastructure, according to military spokesperson Anastasia Bobovnikova.
“This forces our troops to move around, since there is nothing to hold onto in those sectors,” said Bobovnikova, a spokesperson for the “Luhansk” Operational Tactical Group. “This is a scorched-earth tactic.”
According to military observers, seizing hilltop Toretsk would allow Moscow to further restrict a supply corridor connecting the operational rear with Ukrainian forces throughout most of the east.
Russian soldiers are also advancing on the vital city of Pokrovsk, located at the other end of that corridor.
More over 1,000 people remain in Toretsk, out of a pre-war population of about 60,000, but evacuating them is "extremely difficult" due to indiscriminate Russian bombardment, Bobovnikova said.
After the conflict began in February 2022, Russian soldiers concentrated on seizing the industrialized Donbas, which includes the Luhansk and Donetsk areas.
The progress of Moscow's soldiers, including as the taking of erstwhile eastern stronghold Vuhledar this week, has highlighted Russia's enormous superiority in personnel and material, as Ukraine seeks more arms from Western partners.
Britain has announced that President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will visit NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte in London on Thursday. A conference of Ukraine's primary military allies was canceled so that the U.S. President Joe Biden may focus on Hurricane Milton.
