Russia pushes to take town near vital rail, supply line

KYIV, UKRAINE>> Moscow is deploying thousands of soldiers to southeastern Ukraine as it renews an assault on a strategically important town that Ukrainian forces have used to harass shipments on a critical Russian supply line that runs from the eastern Donbas region to Crimea.

The town, Vuhledar, has long been in Russia’s cross hairs. It sits at the intersection of the eastern front in the Donetsk region and the southern front in the Zaporizhzhia region, close to the only rail line linking Crimea with the Donbas region.

The Ukrainians have used that proximity to lob artillery shells at the trains, limiting Russia’s ability to move men and equipment between the two fronts and, ultimately, to achieve its stated aim of capturing the Donbas.

After a major drive in November failed, with reportedly enormous losses, Russian commanders are once again attacking in and around Vuhledar in hopes of securing the rail line.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy acknowledged in his nightly address Saturday that the situation was “very difficult,” as Russia “throws more and more of its forces to break our defenses.”

In addition to taking control of the Donbas, Moscow is intent on keeping control over the socalled land bridge, the slice of occupied territory that connects Russia to Crimea, the peninsula that Moscow has occupied since 2014. Kyiv’s hold on Vuhledar threatens that as well.

Ukrainian officials said that they had repelled the latest assaults but warned that Russian forces, bolstered by thousands of newly mobilized soldiers, were trying to encircle the town.

On Saturday, fighting continued to rage across the eastern front and around the embattled city of Bakhmut, which is about 60 miles from Vuhledar, and damage from Russia’s strikes on Ukrainian infrastructure continued to be felt.

An accident at a critical power station that had been damaged by Russian attacks in the southern city of Odesa resulted in a citywide blackout.

Ukraine’s energy minister, Herman Galushchenko, said Saturday evening that critical infrastructure had been restored, meaning Odesa would have water and heat.

Power had been restored to about one- third of the city’s consumers, Galushchenko added.