Ukraine-Russia war live: Putin’s forces claim key town of Vuhledar in east Ukraine as Kyiv’s troops withdraw

Vladimir Putin’s forces have claimed a key town in eastern Ukraine as Kyiv’s troops were forced to withdraw from the area after years of fighting.

The Russian Army said it had seized Vuhledar, Donetsk, on Wednesday, a bastion that had resisted intense attacks since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022.

Kyiv’s eastern military command said it had ordered a pullback from the hilltop coal mining town to avoid encirclement by Russian troops.

The town, which had a population of over 14,000 before the war, has been devastated, with Soviet-era apartment buildings smashed apart and scarred.

Ukrainian troops received an order to pull back troops from the embattled eastern hilltop town of Vuhledar to avoid encirclement by Russian troops, the eastern military command said on Wednesday.

“Senior command granted permission to carry out a maneuver to withdraw units from Vuhledar in order to preserve personnel and military equipment, and take positions for further actions,” the statement said.

Russian drones overnight attacked port infrastructure in Ukraine’s southern Odesa region, damaging a grain facility and buildings at a border crossing to Romania, as well as cutting power to thousands in the northern Sumy region, officials said.

The attack hit Ukraine’s Izmail district near the Danube river, the regional governor Oleh Kiper said on Telegram messenger.

“Russia continues to wage war against grain and global food security,” Oleksiy Kuleba, deputy prime minister for restoration, said on Telegram, reporting damage to the grain facility and administrative buildings at the Orlivka crossing.

The crossing temporarily suspended operations due to the attack, Kiper added. Two lorry drivers, including a Turkish citizen, were injured, according to officials.

Ukraine can produce four million drones annually and is quickly ramping up its production of other weapons, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in comments authorised for publication on Wednesday.

Speaking on Tuesday to executives from dozens of foreign arms manufacturers in Kyiv, Zelenskiy said Ukraine had already contracted to produce 1.5 million drones this year.

Drone production was virtually non-existent in Ukraine before Russia’s invasion in February 2022.

“In extremely difficult conditions of the full-scale war under constant Russian strikes, Ukrainians were able to build a virtually new defence industry,” said Zelenskiy.

Ukraine tripled its overall domestic weapons production in 2023 and then doubled that volume again in just the first eight months of this year, Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal told the same gathering. Ukrainian officials gave no absolute figures.

Russian troops have taken complete control of the eastern Ukrainian town of Vuhledar, a bastion that had resisted intense Russian attacks since the beginning of the 2022 war, Russian war bloggers and media said on Wednesday.

Russian Telegram channels published video of troops waving the Russian tricolour flag over shattered buildings. The town, which had a population of over 14,000 before the war, has been devastated, with Soviet-era apartment buildings smashed apart and scarred.

The Moskovsky Komsomolets newspaper said that Vuhledar had finally fallen after the last Ukrainian forces from the 72nd Mechanized Brigade, a unit famous for its resistance, abandoned the town late on Tuesday.

The Shot Telegram channel and pro-Russian war bloggers confirmed that Vuhledar was under total Russian control, though there was no official response from either the Russian or Ukrainian militaries.

The new Nato chief Mark Rutte has vowed to strengthen Western support for war-ravaged Ukraine as he takes charge of the alliance.

The former Dutch prime minister officially replaced Jens Stoltenberg on Tuesday as Nato secretary general after his predecessor spent a decade in the job.

Mr Rutte’s appointment comes at an important time for Nato, with the US election just weeks away, he will soon be working with a new president.

The secretary general said during a press conference on Tuesday that he could work with either Donald Trump or Kamala Harris and appreciates that Ukraine will be his top priority.

Russia’s security agency, the Federal Security Service (FSB), said it detained 39 individuals, including teenagers, accused of supporting “Ukrainian terrorist” groups.

The FSB accused the arrested individuals of “inciting children and adolescents to commit violent acts against representatives of state bodies, classmates and teachers”.

“Thirty-nine radicals aged 14 to 35, supporters of Ukrainian terrorist organizations banned in Russia, were detained,” the FSB said in a statement.

It claimed that nine teenagers were involved in planning “armed attacks on educational and religious institutions” in Russia.

It alleged that they were communicating with “Ukrainian handlers” online.

Ukraine’s forces took down 11 out of 32 Russian attack drones launched overnight, Ukraine‘s air force said today.

Another four drones left Ukrainian airspace in the direction of Russia and 10 drones were lost in northern and central Ukrainian regions as a result of electronic warfare countermeasures, it said.

Russian drones attacked the Ukrainian Izmail district near the Danube river in the southern Odesa region, local governor Oleh Kiper said on Telegram.

“The Russians targeted the port and border infrastructure,” Kiper said, adding that two lorry drivers, including a Turkish citizen, were injured.

He said the Ukrainian-Romanian crossing of Orlivka had temporarily suspended operations due to the shelling.