Late on October 7, Anastasiia Bobovnikova, a spokeswoman for the Luhansk Tactical Operations Group, told Ukrainian state television: "The situation is unstable, fighting is taking place at all entrances (to the town). Russian troops have entered the eastern outskirts of the town."

The Russian Defense Ministry said early on October 7 that its forces had inflicted casualties and damage to equipment near several settlements in the region, including near Toretsk. Russian military bloggers said the Russian army continued to advance toward the town center.

Like the capture of Vuhledar last week, Moscow's new military advance underscores Russia's superiority in numbers and materiel, while Ukraine has had to ask for more weapons from its Western allies.

Russia, which now controls nearly 20 percent of Ukraine, has been advancing toward Toretsk since August, taking village by village with infantry backed by increasingly destructive guided bombs.

As Ukraine loses territory, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has ordered his senior officials to do “everything possible” to mitigate Moscow’s advance on the front line.

For Ukraine, Toretsk has been a frontline city for 10 years now because of its proximity to Ukrainian territory captured by separatists in 2014. Since then, Toretsk has become a defensive stronghold for Kiev.

For Moscow, capturing Toretsk would bring the Russian military closer to its goal of seizing the entire Donbas region. Ukrainian military analysts say that if Moscow captures the Toretsk hilltop, it could cut off key logistical routes connecting Kiev’s forces in the region to the war zone, including the main Pokrovsk-Kostyantynivka road.

Ngoc Anh (according to Reuters)