Acting head of the DPR Denis Pushilin said that the military personnel of the Armed Forces of Ukraine are mining high-rise buildings in case of retreat from Vugledar.

According to him, the position of the Ukrainian forces in the region has deteriorated, as a result of which the Armed Forces of Ukraine were forced to use their reserves.

“The enemy was forced to transfer part of the reserves, which were planned to be sent to the Artyomovsky sector.

Nevertheless, we can now say that the enemy is already mining high-rise buildings in the Ugledar direction - in case he has to retreat, ”Pushilin said on the air of the Rossiya 24 TV channel.

According to the estimates of the acting head of the DPR, about 1,000 civilians remain in Ugledar.

According to Pushilin, the Russian military, as the buildings in Vugledar are vacated, are trying to withdraw the civilian population in the direction of Volnovakha, “where it is at least relatively safe.”

In addition, according to Pushilin, the Armed Forces of Ukraine use chemical weapons near Artyomovsk and Ugledar.

Also on russian.rt.com, the Russian Armed Forces destroyed up to 70 militants of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the South-Donetsk and Zaporozhye directions

“Not only in the Artyomovsky direction, but also in the Ugledarsky direction, there are facts of the use of chemical compounds that make our servicemen unwell,” said the acting head of the DPR.

According to him, the trains are dropped from drones at the locations of Russian units.

As Pushilin clarified, the chemicals cause coughing and general malaise in the fighters.

Pushilin also spoke about the supply of Western long-range weapons to Ukraine, noting that this circumstance requires strengthening the air defense system.

Recall that earlier Washington approved another package of military assistance to Kyiv, which, among other things, included long-range missiles for HIMARS and long-range GLSDB projectiles.

“We are well aware that, given the supply of such weapons, we will have to move the enemy even further from the territory of the republic so that he does not have the physical ability to reach our settlements,” Pushilin said.

As the acting head of the DPR noted, it is timely to think about additional air defense and missile defense systems while the process of liberating the territories of the republic is underway.

Earlier, RT also reported that due to heavy losses near Vuhledar, Ukrainian troops were forced to transfer reinforcements that were necessary for the defense of Artyomovsk.

So, from January 30, mobilized people from the central regions of Ukraine, in particular Cherkasy, Chernihiv, Kharkiv and Poltava regions, are being transferred to the Vuhledar direction.

It is noted that most of them have never served in the army and have no combat experience.

Presumably, the total number of mobilized people can reach about 1.5 thousand people.

The Armed Forces of Ukraine were preparing these reserves to be sent to the 63rd mechanized and 71st Jaeger brigades, but these plans were revised due to the aggravation of the situation around Ugledar.

After being distributed in the Kurakhovo fortified area 30 km north of Vugledar, the mobilized were handed over to the units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine with the largest irretrievable losses: the 72nd mechanized and 56th motorized infantry brigades, as well as units of the 68th Jaeger brigade, whose losses in killed and wounded exceed 50% personnel.

It is also reported that parts of the Ukrainian army are suffering heavy losses around Vuhledar due to malfunctions in the firing of NATO M777 and FH70 guns of 155 mm caliber. 

The surviving artillery of 155 mm caliber has to be transported and hidden due to constant hits on the positions of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, which is why the Ukrainian forces cannot conduct a full-fledged counter-battery fight in the Ugledar direction.