“I don’t think the town will hold out for long,” said Ukrainian artilleryman Oleksandr with the 109th Territorial Defense Brigade deployed in the area, stressing that there is a “serious shortage of people.”Fierce house-to-house fighting rages in Toretsk, a Ukrainian stronghold since Russia’s first invasion of Donbas in 2014 following the occupation of Crimea. For most of the first two years of Russia’s full-scale invasion launched in early 2022, it was tucked away in a calmer part of the front line until Russian forces started storming it this June.“The situation is very bad, and if our command doesn't send reserves there in the nearest future, the situation would be very difficult, if not catastrophic,” Ukrainian military expert Mykhailo Zhyrokhov told the Kyiv Independent.