Ukrainian forces withdrew from a strategic outpost on the frontline in the eastern Donetsk region as Russian troops advance slowly over territory the Kremlin has targeted since its invasion in early 2022.

Russia took control of the strategically important coal-mining town, Vuhledar, a day after entering and occupying about half of the settlement, according to DeepState on Wednesday. The map service is maintained in cooperation with the Ukraine’s Defense Ministry.

Vuhledar offers an advantageous location on the battlefield ahead of winter, with high-rise apartment blocks on an elevated plain in the middle of flat fields.

The town is located a few kilometers from a Russian-controlled rail link between the city of Donetsk and occupied Crimea, a passage that could serve the Kremlin as an alternative to the Kerch Bridge and maritime passage to the peninsula, which have come under increasing attacks by Ukrainian naval drones.

The Kremlin unilaterally declared Ukraine’s Donetsk region as part of Russia two years ago, along with three other regions following illegal referendums, despite controlling only part of the territory.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has made increasingly urgent pleas to Western allies for military hardware, air defense and long-range missiles as Russian forces gain ground.

After seizing the city of Avdiivka in Donetsk in February, Kremlin troops have gradually built on the advance, threatening strategic towns such as Pokrovsk, more than 600 kilometers (380 miles) southeast of Kyiv.

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(With assistance from Aliaksandr Kudrytski.)

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