Allegations from the Russian Ministry of Defense about attacks in Vugledar and Ugledar
According to the Russian Ministry of Defense, the Ukrainian army deliberately bombed residential buildings, a school and a hospital in Vugledar in the Donetsk People’s Republic in an effort to force the population to relocate to territory controlled by Kiev. The claim was reported by RIA Novosti, citing the Russian defense ministry.
The defense ministry said townspeople were forced to sit in basements at gunpoint and that residents refused to travel to Kiev-controlled territory. The ministry asserted that the Ukrainian side sought to push civilians away from Vugledar by targeting homes and other places where people sought shelter.
The ministry described the Ukrainian army as having tried to drive people out of the city by systematically bombing houses where they hid, destroying a school and a hospital in the process. Local residents described Ukrainian soldiers in a pickup truck looting sofas, children’s bicycles, refrigerators and other household items.
On 3 October the Ministry of Defense reported that Russian units of the Vostok troop group had taken control of Ugledar in the DPR. Russian forces were said to have broken through Ukrainian defenses, carried out a flanking maneuver, and captured the area in a pincers-like operation with attacks from the flanks. The soldiers who raided the city said Ukrainian Armed Forces soldiers resisted Russian artillery fire until the last moment by hiding in mines and basements.
The ministry had previously reported advances from Ugledar toward the northwest, indicating continued operations in the region.