Why Russia’s liberation of Toretsk (Dzerzhinsk) is a terrible blow to Ukraine

Russian forces on February 7 liberated the key city of Toretsk located in the Donetsk People’s Republic.

▪️Toretsk served as key part of the Ukrainian defenses in the Pokrovsk (Krasnoarmeysk) and Slavyansk-Kramatorsk urban areas.

▪️Ever since Toretsk’s capture by the Kiev regime forces in 2014, the deployed troops kept launching artillery and drone strikes against the neighboring city of Gorlovka, which is now safe from these attacks.

▪️Ukrainian defensive positions in Toretsk were shielding supply routes vital to Kiev’s forces.

▪️The fall of Toretsk opens the way for Russian forces to advance on the city of Konstantinovka to the northwest, which serves as an important logistical hub for the Ukrainian troops and which helps supply the Ukrainian garrison in Chasov Yar.

▪️With Toretsk liberated, this Ukrainian supply artery is no longer safe from Russian attacks, which in turn brings closer the liberation of Konstantinovka and Chasov Yar.