(RFE/RL) — By one account, nearly three dozen Russian tanks and armored vehicles were reduced to smoldering rubble. By another, as many as 500 Russian troops may have been killed. Relatives of soldiers from one unit are frantically trading text messages and social-media posts trying to locate their loved ones.
More than two weeks after a major clash between Russian and Ukrainian forces, details are slowly emerging as to what exactly happened in Vuhledar earlier this month.
According to Ukrainian and Western intelligence officials, Russian and Ukrainian military bloggers, satellite photographs, and other open sources, a collection of Russian marine infantry and other units suffered catastrophic losses in an effort to capture the Donetsk region town — for the second time since November.
“If this is not a war crime, then what is a war crime?” one Russian Telegram channel known for its ties to the Wagner mercenary group said in scathing post that featured aerial photographs of the devastation, apparently captured by Ukraine.
Here’s what you need to know about the battle for Vuhledar and what it says about Russia’s fighting ability one year into its invasion.
So, What Is This Town Anyway?
Located less than 2 kilometers north of the town of Pavlivka, Vuhledar is a coal-mining town with a pre-invasion population of 14,000 with drab Soviet-style apartment blocks set amid a flat, open landscape.
Russian forces have controlled Pavlivka since around November 2022, after units including from the Pacific Fleet’s 155th Naval Infantry Brigade led a charge to recapture it from Ukrainian troops who seized it a few months earlier.
The naval ..
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