KYIV: According to officials in Kyiv, Russian troops have increased their assault on the small salt mining town of Soledar in eastern Ukraine, requiring Ukrainian troops to repel waves of mercenary-led attacks.
Following advances over the past four days, the British defense ministry stated on Tuesday that Russian and Wagner contract group forces were probably now in control of the majority of the town in the industrial Donbas region.
Russian forces would benefit from seizing Soledar as they fight for control of the city of Bakhmut, which is a few kilometers to the southwest. There, troops from both sides have been suffering heavy losses in some of the most intense trench warfare since Russia invaded Ukraine nearly 11 months ago. Seizing Soledar would be advantageous for Russian forces. Additionally, it would provide Russia with a welcome victory on the battlefield after a string of setbacks in recent months.
Britain stated in a brief intelligence report that “Russia’s Soledar axis is highly likely an effort to envelop Bakhmut from the north and to disrupt Ukrainian lines of communication.”
For the online publication New Voice, prominent journalist Yuriy Butusov wrote that Russian forces had established fire control over the primary Ukrainian supply route to the town. Butusov is embedded with Ukrainian troops in Soledar.
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He stated, “This is not an encirclement completely, but normal supply along the route is impossible, and (this is) critical for defense.”
In his Monday night video address, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy stated that Bakhmut and Soledar were surviving despite widespread destruction.
He mentioned new and more intense attacks in Soledar, where, according to him, there were no walls left up and the land was covered in Russian corpses.
Zelenskiy stated, “We have won for Ukraine additional time and additional strength thanks to the tenacity of our soldiers in Soledar.”
By gaining strength or time, he didn’t say what he meant.
Bakhmut is on a vital supply route that connects the Donbass’s Donetsk and Luhansk regions. Russia could use it as a stepping stone to gain control of Kramatorsk and Sloviansk, two larger cities.
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In a press conference on Monday, the Russian defense ministry did not mention either Soledar or Bakhmut.
Yevgeny Prigozhin, a friend of Russian President Vladimir Putin, started Wagner. It is active in conflicts in Africa and has played a significant role in Russia’s war effort in Ukraine, drawing some recruits from Russia’s prisons.
For months, Prigozhin has attempted to capture Bakhmut and Soledar, resulting in numerous casualties on both sides.
On Saturday, he stated that its significance lay in a system of deep mining tunnels below the surface that can accommodate tanks or troops. According to a US official, Prigozhin was interested in the salt and gypsum from the mines, which are thought to extend more than 100 miles underground.
According to Oleh Zhdanov, a Ukrainian military analyst, fighting in Bahkmut and Soledar was “the most intense on the entire frontline.” On YouTube, he stated, “So many remain on the battlefield, either dead or wounded.”
They come at us in waves, but most of the wounded die where they are, either from exposure to the cold or from bleeding. There is no one coming to assist them or bring the deceased from the battlefield.
Olha, 60, claimed she had fled Soledar in an evacuee center in Kramatorsk after moving from apartment to apartment as each was destroyed by tanks.
“Not a single house is still standing. Olha, who only used her first name, stated, “Apartments were burning and splitting in half.”
Source: Reuters