Torestk at risk: Ukrainian journalist Butusov warns of potential repeat of Avdiivka and Bakhmut
The city of Toretsk in Donetsk Oblast is unprepared for defense, and no brigades were timely deployed there, said Yuriy Butusov, editor-in-chief of Censor.NET in an interview with Radio NV.
Butusov described the situation in and around Toretsk as extremely difficult. "The enemy continues to advance as the defenses around the city collapsed within days. The city itself is not fortified, lacking organized defensive positions. No brigade was deployed there in time. The 32nd mechanized brigade was thrown into a counter-battle. These people are doing their best within the training and preparedness level they managed to achieve," Butusov noted.
In his view, "there won't be a miracle," explaining that deploying unprepared troops into frontal battles on a wide front makes it hard to stop the advancing enemy. "An organized defensive line stops the enemy, which couldn't be set up in time there. If we do not establish the defense line within Toretsk (in the parts we still control) and begin to prepare another defense line behind Toretsk with timely reserve deployment, what will we have? The same situation as in other Donbas cities lost due to unprepared, unorganized counter-battles — Avdiivka, Krasnohorivka, Bakhmut, Sievierodonetsk — the list, unfortunately, is already long," Butusov added.
In the Ukrainian General Staff's evening briefing on July 31, it was disclosed that attacks in the Toretsk direction have risen to 16 — with assaults near Zalizne, New York, Toretsk, and Sjeverne. "Thirteen battles concluded, and three are ongoing. Additionally, the occupiers executed three airstrikes on Shcherbynivka and Toretsk," the report stated.