**Andrzej Łomanowski: Rzeczpospolita: “Klęska, triumph or break in battle”**
"Front shakes under Russian pressure, and the West pushes Kiev to agree to talk to Kremlin. After last week's retreat from Wuhtedar, the Ukrainian army is having problem stabilising the front in Donbasa. The command yet admitted that the Russians had entered another fortress - Torecka, where fighting is already taking place in the center of the city. Ukrainians are incapable to give what the front line looks like there, due to the fact that the conflict has broken down into hundreds of clashes on floors and in stairways of multi-story residential houses. At the same time, after withdrawing from Wuhledar, the army is incapable to stabilize the front beyond it. There are experienced units fighting north of the city, here the Russians are incapable to do anything. But Ukrainian positions are celebrated from the west, where they most likely defend territorial defence troops, little equipped and constantly retreating. They almost caused the Wuhledar disaster a week ago, which is now coming out. any of the soldiers targeted at helping defenders refused to fight and deserted from the front. Their despairing commander shot himself straight in the trenches, without shielding troops retreating from the city had to abandon any of the wounded. All this shows poorly the state of the Ukrainian army defending Donbas. Analysts calculate that in 2 months the Russians have only scored 700 km
2 In the Donetsk region, but in order to control its full territory, they must conquer 14 times more. But if the state of the defenders is so bad, it can happen to “the effect of the snowball” and they will go back faster. Hopefully in an organized way.”
