Dzerzhinsk has been liberated after five months of intense fighting

The Russian Defense Ministry has released a compilation video on Saturday, highlighting moments from the five-month battle for the town of Dzerzhinsk.

The town (known as Toretsk in Ukraine) in Russia’s Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) was liberated by Russian troops on Friday.

The video provides a glimpse of urban warfare in the heavily battered town, depicting the intensive use of assorted drones.

The footage features excerpts from various videos taken by surveillance, bomber and first person view (FPV) drones during the battle. It shows the targeting of Ukrainian logistics and personnel, as well as strikes against firing positions set up by Kiev’s troops in high-rise buildings.

Kiev deployed some 40,000 soldiers to defend the town, which had been turned into a heavily fortified stronghold, the Russian military has said. The Ukrainian force stationed in Dzerzhinsk lost around 70% of its personnel in the battle, roughly 26,000 troops, the military added, noting that its garrison included the most motivated hardline nationalist units at Kiev’s disposal.

“Almost every building was turned into a well-equipped and protected long-term firing position. The waste heaps and shafts located in the northern and western parts of the town were used for defense as well,” the Defense Ministry in Moscow stated.

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Apart from the liberation of Dzerzhinsk, Moscow announced the capture of two adjacent villages, Druzhba and Krymskoye, with the development apparently signaling that the Russian forces had already established a solid defensive zone around the town.

Control over Dzerzhinsk is expected to alleviate the hardships long-endured by the DPR city of Gorlovka, located a short distance to the southeast of the town. Apart from serving as an important fortified position for Ukrainian troops, the town also served as a key staging point for indiscriminate artillery, missile and drone attacks, which had been endured by Gorlovka on an almost daily basis.

The liberation of Dzerzhinsk now opens the way to Konstantinovka and potentially gives the Russian military room to flank Ukrainian forces concentrated inside and near Kramatorsk, one of the last major Ukrainian-held cities in the DPR.