Russian Forces Advancing on ‘Center’ of Vuhledar, Ukrainian Official Says

Russian forces are honing in on central Vuhledar, a strategically located mining town in the Donetsk region of Ukraine, Donetsk’s Kyiv-appointed governor has said. “The enemy is already nearly in the center of the city,” regional governor Vadym Filashkin said in televised comments on Oct. 1. His remarks coincide with video footage shared on social media that appears to show Russian soldiers raising the Russian flag over several buildings in Vuhledar (Ugledar in Russian). In comments to Reuters, Andriy Nazarenko, the commander of a Ukrainian drone battalion still deployed in Vuhledar, described the battlefield situation as “very difficult.” On Oct. 2, Ukraine’s eastern military command announced it had ordered its troops to withdraw from Vuhledar to avoid encirclement by Russian forces and “preserve personnel and military equipment.”...