Russia intensified its “powerful attack” against Soledar in eastern Ukraine. Kyiv said Monday (9 January), that the Wagner contract militia was leading this assault. He spoke out about the difficult situation faced by forces trying to repel waves after waves of attacks on the salt mine town and other fronts.
Bakhmut can be found just a few kilometers from Soledar, in the industrial Donbas. Both sides suffered heavy losses here in the most intense trench warfare since Russia invaded Ukraine nearly 11 months ago.
While the Ukrainian forces were able repel an earlier attempt to take the town, large numbers Wagner units quickly returned and used heavy artillery cover to deploy new tactics. Hanna Malyar (Deputy Defence Minister of Ukraine) stated that they had defeated another attempt to take the town.
Malyar claimed that the enemy had “literally stepped over the corpses of their own soldiers using massed guns and MLRS system as well as mortars” She claimed that attackers were drawn from Wagner’s best reserves.
Russia’s defense minister didn’t mention Bakhmut nor Soledar during Monday’s media briefing. This came a day after Russia’s defense ministry was criticised for making an apparently false claimabout the possibility of a missile strike on a temporary Ukrainian barracks.
Yevgeny Pirizhin, an ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin founded Wagner. It has recruited personnel from Russia’s prisons. It is known for its uncompromising violence and active in conflicts within Africa .
Bakhmut, Soledar and others have been under attack from Prigozhin over several months at great personal expense. He stated on Saturday (7 January) that his capture was due to the existence of underground mining tunnels.
It can accommodate large groups of people at depths between 80 and 100 meters. Tanks and infantry fighting vehicles can also be moved around.
Volodymyr Zelenskiy (the Ukrainian President) stated in Sunday’s (8 Jan) nightly video comments, that Bakhmut was surviving despite widespread destruction and that it was very difficult in Soledar.
Military analysts claim that the strategic military benefits to Moscow from capturing these towns would not be significant . A US official stated that Prigozhin is interested the salt and gypsum mining operations. They are thought to be more than 100 miles underground. These mines also have auditorium-scale caverns.
Olha, 60, was found at Kramatorsk’s evacuation center. She claimed she fled Soledar after moving from one apartment to the next as each one was destroyed.
“All week, it was impossible to get outside.” Olha, who did not give her first name, stated that everyone was running around screaming with soldiers wearing automatic weapons.
She stated, “There is not one house left intact.” Apartments were exploding and breaking in half.”
Pro-Russian bloggers reported Prigozhin saying that his forces were trying to downed the Soledar administration building.
According to Ukrainian police, reinforcements were sent out to Soledar by the Ukrainian military. TwoBritish volunteers have been reported missing from Soledar.
Heorhil (a 28-year-old Ukrainian soldier) stated that both sides were using heavy artillery approximately 25 miles (40km), north of Siversk. He stated that less-trained fighters had been replaced by the Russian regular forces in this area.
Speaking in close proximity of snow-covered houses, he said both sides were suffering “huge losses” which meant that our units were also losing. “One shouldn’t underestimate the enemy.”
MARKETPLACE TRIP
Regional prosecutors claimed that a Russian missile hit a Shevchenkove market further north, killing two and injuring four more.
People with severe injuries were found on the ground. As video footage from the police and Ukraine’s presidential offices revealed, rescue workers searched rubble, large craters and burned stalls for victims. One officer was able to carry a little girl with bloody eyes from the scene.
Russia did not immediately respond to reports about the village. Kyiv took over from Moscow in September.
Ukrainian authorities reported that Russian forces had attacked the country in numerous strikes, including Kharkiv (the second-largest city in Ukraine), as well as infrastructure within the Donetsk, Kherson and Mykolaiv regions. According to the regional governor, 15 people were injured in the shelling of a coastal city.
As the war nears its one-year mark, Russia’s military is under domestic pressure. Hawkish voices call for an escalation after the loss of territory and high injury and death rates.
Russia stated at first that it had to expel Ukrainian nationalists. Russia now claims it is facing an existential threat by the West. Kyiv and its Western allies placed severe sanctions on Moscow and sent weapons to Ukraine in defense of themselves. However, they claim that the invasion wasn’t provoked.
Sky News reported that Britain might be looking at providing Ukraine with tank. The Ministry of Defence of Britain didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
France, Germany and the United States pledged last Wednesday to send an armoured fighting vehicle, fulfilling a long-standing request by Ukraine.
According to the Kremlin the new weapons would “deepen the suffering of the Ukrainian people”, but it would not alter the outcome.
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