The Ukrainian military has confirmed that it is pulling out of the strategic city of Vuhledar in the east as Moscow continues its grinding offensive, while Ukraine's critically important Danube port of Izmayil was again targeted by waves of Russian drone strikes that raised the alarm in neighboring NATO member Romania.
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"The higher command has given permission for the withdrawal of units from Vuhledar in order to preserve personnel and combat equipment, and take position for further actions," Ukraine's Khortytsia ground forces formation, which commands eastern regions including Donetsk, said in a message on Telegram.
Russian forces used repeated attacks on the flanks of the city to exhaust the Ukrainian defenses, threatening to surround the hilltop city, the command said.
Moscow's troops, overwhelmingly superior in numbers and equipment, have been slowly advancing in eastern Ukraine despite huge losses, as Ukraine has been desperately appealing to its Western allies to provide it with more advanced weapons and give it permission to strike military objectives deeper inside Russia.
Vuhledar, a deserted former mining town with a prewar population of some 14,000, has been at the center of a ferocious battle since the start of Russia's unprovoked invasion in February 2022.
The city, perched on a hilltop, has been virtually razed to the ground, but it retains its strategic importance for the protection of Russia's supply routes and could act as a springboard toward Pokrovsk, a communications hub some 80 kilometers to the north that Moscow has been eying for months.
Russian Telegram channels posted videos of troops waving the Russian flag over shattered buildings.
As ferocious fighting rages in the east, Russia continued pounding Ukrainian cities and economic infrastructure with relentless drone strikes and shelling.
Early on October 2, Russian drones again struck Ukraine's Danube port of Izmayil, on the border with Romania, which has been Kyiv's only gateway to exporting its grain and other produce.
Two people, including a Turkish citizen, were wounded in the attack on Izmayil, Oleh Kiper, the governor of the Odesa region, said on Telegram.
"The Russians' target was port and border infrastructure. Two men, truck drivers, were wounded, one of them a citizen of Turkey. Currently, the injured are in moderate condition in the hospital," Kiper wrote.
"Russia continues to wage war against grain and global food security," Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Oleksiy Kuleba wrote on Telegram, reporting damage to the grain facility and administrative buildings at the Orlivka border crossing with Romania.
Romanian authorities issued a drone alert for the public early on October 2 in Tulcea County on the border.
The Romanian Defense Ministry, meanwhile, said NATO scrambled two Spanish F-18 and two Romanian F-16 jets from bases in southeastern Romania to monitor the situation for several hours.
"During this time interval, Romania's radar surveillance system did not detect the penetration of the drones involved in the attack on the Ukrainian targets into the national airspace," the ministry said in a statement.
In the southern Kherson region, a Russian drone strike on a shuttle bus in Antonivka killed one person and wounded another, regional Governor Oleksandr Prokudin reported on Telegram.
Earlier, Russian troops shelled Kharkiv, Ukraine's second-largest city, Mayor Ihor Terekhov reported on Telegram.
Private residential buildings and a public garage were damaged, Terekhov said, adding that no injuries had been reported so far.
In a similar attack on Derhachi, a small town some 15 kilometers north of Kharkiv, several people were wounded, including a child, Kharkiv Governor Oleh Synyehubov reported.
"According to emergency medical personnel, five people, including a 14-year-old boy, sustained shrapnel wounds and were also treated for an acute reaction to stress as a result of the strike in Derhachi," Synyehubov wrote on Telegram.