The Russian Defense Ministry announced the capture of the city of Toretsk in Donetsk region, but the Ukrainian military denied this information. According to them, fierce fighting is ongoing in and around the city, and the defenders continue to hold their positions.
The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reported late yesterday evening that the occupiers had launched 10 attacks on Ukrainian positions in Toretsk. “The main efforts of the occupiers in the attacks were concentrated in the area of the city of Toretsk. Ukrainian servicemen repelled all enemy attacks,” the report said.
As the publication noted, Ukrainian military analysts say that the capture of Toretsk, located on a hill, could allow the occupiers to further complicate the logistics of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in most of Donbas.
This would also allow the Russians to advance northwest to the regional logistics hub of Kostyantynivka, linked to several key cities.
“Most of the civilian population of Toretsk has long since fled or been evacuated, and many of the city's buildings have been destroyed or severely damaged,” the publication wrote.
The situation in the Toretsk district
The defense forces continue to hold Toretsk and Chasiv Yar, where intense fighting continues in the urban area. “In the Kramatorsk and Toretsk directions, high-intensity fighting continued in the urban area of Chasiv Yar and Toretsk,” the operational-strategic group of troops “Khortytsia” was informed.
By completely occupying the city of Toretsk, Russian troops want to solve several tasks at once, said Ivan Tymochko, head of the Council of Reservists of the Land Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. He added that the battles for Toretsk allow the Defense Forces to restrain Russian troops and strike with long-range artillery at the places of concentration of their forces from the Donetsk direction.
