Russian Forces Fully Control Bastion of Vuhledar in East Ukraine, War Bloggers Say

A satellite view of Vuhledar, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Donetsk region, Ukraine, September 29, 2024. (2024 Planet Labs Inc./via Reuters)
A satellite view of Vuhledar, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Donetsk region, Ukraine, September 29, 2024. (2024 Planet Labs Inc./via Reuters)
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Russian Forces Fully Control Bastion of Vuhledar in East Ukraine, War Bloggers Say

A satellite view of Vuhledar, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Donetsk region, Ukraine, September 29, 2024. (2024 Planet Labs Inc./via Reuters)
A satellite view of Vuhledar, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Donetsk region, Ukraine, September 29, 2024. (2024 Planet Labs Inc./via Reuters)

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 tricolor 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.

On Tuesday, a regional Ukrainian official said Russian troops had reached the center of Vuhledar, a coal mining town located on strategic high ground.

Russian forces in eastern Ukraine have advanced at their fastest rate in two years since August, even though a Ukrainian incursion into Russia's Kursk region sought to force Moscow to divert troops.

President Vladimir Putin has said Russia's primary tactical goal is to take the whole of the Donbas region in southeastern Ukraine. Russia controls just under a fifth of the country as a whole, including about 80% of the Donbas.

Since Russia sent its army into Ukraine in February 2022, the war has largely been a story of grinding artillery and drone strikes along a heavily fortified 1,000-km (620-mile) front involving hundreds of thousands of soldiers.

BASTION FALLS

Despite the Ukrainian incursion into Kursk in early August, Russian forces have been pushing westwards at key points along some 150 km (95 miles) of the front in the Donetsk region, with the logistics hub of Pokrovsk also a key target.

They captured Ukrainsk on Sept. 17 and then encircled the hilltop town of Vuhledar, about 80 km (50 miles) south of Pokrovsk, essentially forcing Ukrainian forces to make a choice: retreat or face certain capture.

Russia has increasingly been using pincer tactics to trap and then constrict Ukrainian strongholds. Images from the area showed intense bombardment of the town with artillery and aerial glide bombs.

Neither side discloses losses. Both sides said the other paid a high human price for the town.

Control of Vuhledar, which lies at the intersection of the eastern and southern battlefields, is significant because it will ease Russia's advance as it tries to pierce deeper behind the Ukrainian defensive lines.

Russian bloggers said Russia could now try to push towards Velyka Novosilka, just over 30 km (20 miles) to the west.

Vuhledar also sits close to a railway line connecting Crimea, the Black Sea peninsula which Russia annexed from Ukraine in 2014, to Ukraine's industrialized Donbas region, which comprises Donetsk and the eastern region of Luhansk.

Russian forces currently control 98.5% of the Luhansk region and 60% of the Donetsk region.



Iran Says Seeks ‘Real and Fair’ Deal in Nuclear Talks with US

A man holds an anti-US banner during a rally in support of Gaza, in Tehran, Iran April 11, 2025. Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via Reuters
A man holds an anti-US banner during a rally in support of Gaza, in Tehran, Iran April 11, 2025. Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via Reuters
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Iran Says Seeks ‘Real and Fair’ Deal in Nuclear Talks with US

A man holds an anti-US banner during a rally in support of Gaza, in Tehran, Iran April 11, 2025. Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via Reuters
A man holds an anti-US banner during a rally in support of Gaza, in Tehran, Iran April 11, 2025. Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via Reuters

Iran seeks a "real and fair" agreement with Washington on its nuclear program, a senior aide to supreme leader Ali Khamenei said Friday, setting the stage for a diplomatic showdown this weekend in Oman.

Longtime adversaries Iran and the United States are set to hold talks on Saturday aimed at reaching a deal on Tehran's nuclear program.

US President Donald Trump last month wrote to Khamenei urging negotiations, but warning of possible military action if Iran refuses.

"Far from putting up a show and merely talking in front of the cameras, Tehran is seeking a real and fair agreement, important and implementable proposals are ready," Khamenei adviser Ali Shamkhani posted on X.

He confirmed that Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi was heading to Oman "with full authority for indirect negotiations with America", adding that if Washington showed goodwill, the path forward would be "smooth".

Ahead of the talks, Trump reiterated that military action was "absolutely" possible if they failed.

Iran responded by saying Tehran could expel UN nuclear inspectors, prompting another US warning that this would be an "escalation".

Iran has consistently denied seeking to acquire nuclear weapons.

On Friday, foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei said Iran was "giving diplomacy a genuine chance in good faith and full vigilance".

"America should appreciate this decision, which was made despite their hostile rhetoric," he said.

- 'Stupid actions' -

The talks were first announced by Trump during Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's visit to Washington.

He said they would be high-level and "direct", but Iran insisted they would be "indirect".

"The talks will be conducted indirectly through the exchange of texts," claimed Iran's Fars news agency, without naming a source.

Araghchi and US special envoy Steve Witkoff are due to lead the talks in Oman, which has played a mediating role on the Iran nuclear issue.

Witkoff visited Iran's ally Russia on Friday for talks on Ukraine with President Vladimir Putin.

Expert-level consultations between Russia, China and Iran on nuclear issues were held in Moscow on Tuesday, Russia's foreign ministry said.

Iran has in recent months also been talking with the three European parties to the 2015 nuclear deal, Britain, France and Germany.

The 2015 accord saw sanctions relief for Iran in exchange for limits on its nuclear program.

On Friday, the European Union cautioned that there was "no alternative to diplomacy" on the Iranian nuclear issue.

Germany urged both sides to reach a "diplomatic solution", calling it a "positive development that there is a channel for dialogue between Iran and the United States".

On Thursday, Washington imposed additional sanctions on Iran, targeting its oil network and nuclear program.

Iran's nuclear agency chief Mohammad Eslami downplayed their impact.

"They applied maximum pressure with various sanctions, but they were unable to prevent the country from progressing," he said.

"They still think that they can stop this nation and country with threats and intimidation, psychological operations, or stupid actions."

- 'Threats and intimidation' -

Iran has been in the spotlight since Trump returned to office, and its regional allies have suffered major setbacks.

Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon have suffered heavy losses in conflicts with Israel sparked by the Palestinian group's October 2023 attack.

Since the Gaza war began, Iran and Israel have attacked each other directly for the first time.

Warning of military action against Iran should the talks fail, Trump said US ally Israel would "obviously be very much involved in that, be the leader of that".

Khamenei's adviser Shamkhani said such threats could prompt the expulsion of UN nuclear watchdog inspectors.

"Transfer of enriched materials to secure locations may also be considered," he added of Iran's uranium enrichment activities.

While the West wants to include Iran's ballistic missile program and regional influence in negotiations, Tehran maintains it will talk only about its nuclear program.

"If the American side does not raise irrelevant issues and demands and puts aside threats and intimidation, there is a good possibility of reaching an agreement," deputy foreign minister Majid Takht-Ravanchi said.

Hardline Iranian media are skeptical about the talks.

The Kayhan newspaper warned that entering negotiations with the United States in a bid to lift sanctions was a "failed strategy".

During his first term, Trump withdrew from the 2015 nuclear deal and reimposed sweeping economic sanctions.

Tehran adhered to the deal for a year before rolling back its own commitments.