Russia claims to have captured the city of Toretsk, a claim that Ukraine has denied

The Russian Defense Ministry announced on February 7 that the city of Toretsk, located near Bakhmut, had been taken under control as part of the offensive in the Donetsk region. According to official data, as a result of five months of intense fighting for the city, the Ukrainian Armed Forces lost more than 26 thousand soldiers and about 600 pieces of military equipment. At the same time, the ministry noted that fighting is still ongoing in the Toretsk agglomeration.

However, representatives of the Ukrainian Interior Ministry denied this claim and reported that fighting is ongoing in the city. According to Nazar Voloshin, a representative of the Khortytsia Rapid Strategic Forces, clashes are currently taking place at various infrastructure facilities in the city. According to him, Russian forces are mobilizing all their means to break through the Ukrainian defenses.

Is the center of Toretsk under Russian control?

According to the Ukrainian military analytical platform DeepState, fighting is currently ongoing in the Zabalka microdistrict, as well as in the northern and western regions of Toretsk. The authors of the project noted that the city center is almost completely under Russian control. At the same time, they say that since official sources do not provide information, Ukrainians are forced to get information from enemy sources.

DeepState also criticized the lack of official information about the loss of the cities of Kurakhovo and Velyka Novoselka to the public. According to them, this situation raises many questions about the official information policy.

Storm Z group and prisoners' recruitment to the front

According to the Russian publication Vazhnye istorii, about 30,000 prisoners from Russian prisons may have been recruited into the Storm Z special assault unit. Analysts studied thousands of posts on social networks, analyzing reports of missing Russian soldiers, personal badge numbers, and other information.

More than six thousand posts were analyzed, and personal badge numbers were identified in 2,038 of them. 657 of them had AB series badges previously issued in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions. It was also reported that the process of recruiting prisoners into the Storm Z group took place from February to September 2023. Since September 2023, they have been issued official military badges of the Russian Armed Forces.

The publication "Important Stories" calculated the total number of prisoners based on their token numbering system. According to them, prisoners from 108 different prisons were recruited and sent to the front over a six-month period. Follow “Zamin” news on “Telegram”