Russian forces are retreating from Toretsk just one month after claiming full control of the eastern Ukrainian mining town, according to Forbes.
Toretsk, a strategic town in eastern Ukraine, is crucial for controlling supply routes and advancing in Donetsk Oblast. Its elevated position and logistics role make it a key target. Russian forces sought to use it to disrupt Ukrainian defenses and push toward Chasiv Yar and Kramatorsk, but recent Ukrainian advances have reversed their gains.
Ukrainian forces led by the 12th Azov Brigade, along with military police and territorial units, have pushed the Russian 2nd Combined Arms Army out of much of Toretsk. The Ukrainian Center for Defense Strategies reported Sunday that Ukrainian troops have advanced on Druzhby Street in the center of the town and on Budivelnykiv Street farther south.
“All the signs are there,” said Kyrylo Budanov, head of Ukraine’s intelligence directorate, referring to Russian exhaustion after losing more than half a million troops and 15,000 vehicles since February 2022.
The battle for Toretsk has been particularly brutal, with eight months of urban combat characterized by “the demolition of entire highrises” before Russian forces initially claimed control in early February. The pre-war population of the mining town was approximately 30,000.
While Ukrainian forces have also suffered heavy casualties—around 300,000 troops—they maintain a crucial advantage with superior drone technology. The 12th Azov Brigade has deployed a new drone called Seth. It autonomously flies “lazy circles over the battlefield, scanning for the distinctive shapes of Russian vehicles” before automatically homing in with its 10-pound warhead.
“A Seth apparently can beam video back to its operators but may not have to,” reports Forbes war correspondent David Axe. “It keeps station by way of a multi-channel GPS receiver that’s resistant to jamming. Its autonomy makes it hard to defeat—short of simply shooting it down.”
Russian troops in Toretsk are reportedly resorting to “attacking on motorcycles, instead of slower-moving tanks, in hopes of dodging Ukrainian drones,” Axe says.
Similar dynamics are playing out near Pokrovsk, 30 miles southeast of Toretsk, where Russians are also retreating. However, in Russia’s Kursk Oblast, the situation is reversed—Ukrainian forces face supply shortages and sophisticated drone attacks, leading to their own retreat.
Read more:
- Frontline report: Ukrainian elite units break through southern Toretsk as Russian defenses crumble after 9-month battle
- Ukraine targets 8.8-million-ton capacity Rosneft refinery in Samara Oblast
- Russian forces target Novenke village to sever Ukraine’s Kursk supply lines
