Russian forces have entered the outskirts of the frontline town of Toretsk in the eastern Donetsk region, a Ukrainian military spokeswoman has said.
“The Russians have entered the eastern outskirts of the city,” Anastasiia Bobovnikova, a spokeswoman for Ukraine’s military, said in televised remarks on the evening of Oct. 7.
“The situation is unstable.”
Bobovnikova said that fighting was currently underway “literally at every entrance” of the beleaguered town.
With a pre-war population of some 30,000, Toretsk is a heavily fortified Ukrainian stronghold of considerable strategic importance.
The fall of Toretsk is expected to pave the way for a Russian northward thrust toward the nearby town of Chasiv Yar, another Ukrainian bastion in Donetsk.
It would also allow Russian forces to threaten key Ukrainian supply lines to the front, including the strategically vital Pokrovsk-Kostyantynivka road.
Russia’s defense ministry has largely refrained from commenting on recent developments in and around Toretsk.
Just days ago, the town of Vuhledar, some 75 miles southwest of Toretsk, fell to swiftly advancing Russian forces.
On Oct. 3, the Ukrainian military confirmed the withdrawal of its forces from Vuhledar—after months of fierce fighting—to “preserve personnel and military equipment.”
Nevertheless, Denis Pushilin, head of the Moscow-recognized Donetsk People’s Republic, said the situation in Vuhledar (Ugledar in Russian) “remains tense.”
“The enemy continues to carry out shelling attacks on Vuhledar,” Pushilin was quoted as saying on Oct. 8 by Russia’s state-run TASS news agency.
“They are still trying to bite back, which is why tensions are still there.”
‘Very, Very Difficult’
For the past two months, Russian forces have advanced westward—with increasing speed—along Donetsk’s 100-mile-long frontline, seizing a string of strategic positions from retreating Ukrainian troops.In mid-August, they overran the town of Zalizne (Artyomovo in Russian), which sits only a few miles southeast of Toretsk.
Days later, after weeks of fierce fighting, they captured the town of Niu-York (Novgorodskoye in Russian), roughly 5 miles south of Toretsk.
Since Moscow invaded Ukraine in early 2022, full control of the Donbas region, which comprises Donetsk and Luhansk, has remained a key Russian objective.
According to estimates cited by Reuters, Russian forces currently hold roughly 60 percent of Donetsk and 98.5 percent of Luhansk.
Russian forces now appear poised to capture the town of Pokrovsk, a vital Ukrainian transit hub located some 30 miles southwest of Toretsk.
Roughly 80 percent of Pokrovk’s critical energy infrastructure has been disabled or destroyed by repeated Russian assaults, according to Ukrainian officials.
“The enemy is leaving us without power, without water, without gas,” Serhiy Dobriak, head of Pokrovsk’s Kyiv-appointed military administration, said in recent televised remarks.
Dobriak added that Russian forces now stood only four miles east of the town.
Last week, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy described the battlefield situation in Donbas as “very, very difficult.”
“Everything that can be done this autumn, everything that we can achieve must be achieved,” he said on Sept. 30 after meeting with top military commanders.
