KYIV/SIVERSK, Ukraine, Jan 10 (Reuters) – Russian troops have stepped up an assault in town of Soledar in jap Ukraine, forcing Ukrainian troops to repel waves of assaults led by mercenary forces, officers in Kyiv mentioned.
Britain’s defence ministry mentioned on Tuesday that Russian and forces of the Wagner contract group have been in all probability now in charge of a lot of the small salt mining city after advances within the final 4 days.
Soledar, within the industrial Donbas area, lies just a few miles from Bakhmut, the place troops from each side have been taking heavy losses in among the most intense trench warfare since Russia invaded Ukraine almost 11 months in the past.
“Russia’s Soledar axis is highly likely an effort to envelop Bakhmut from the north, and to disrupt Ukrainian lines of communication,” Britain mentioned in an intelligence briefly.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy mentioned in his nightly video handle on Monday that Bakhmut and Soledar have been holding on regardless of widespread destruction.
He cited new and fiercer assaults in Soledar, the place he mentioned no partitions have been left standing and the land was coated with Russian corpses.
“Thanks to the resilience of our soldiers in Soledar, we have won for Ukraine additional time and additional strength,” Zelenskiy mentioned. He didn’t spell out what he meant by gaining time or energy.
Russia’s defence ministry didn’t point out both Soledar or Bakhmut in a media briefing on Monday.
Wagner was based by Yevgeny Prigozhin, an ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Drawing some recruits from Russia’s prisons and identified for uncompromising violence, it’s energetic in conflicts in Africa and has taken a outstanding function in Russia’s struggle effort in Ukraine.
WAVES OF ATTACKS
Prigozhin has been attempting to capture Bakhmut and Soledar for months at the price of many lives on each side.
He mentioned on Saturday its significance lay in a community of cavernous mining tunnels under the bottom, which might maintain troops or tanks.
[1/9] Smoke rises from strikes on the frontline metropolis of Soledar, as Russia’s assault on Ukraine continues, as seen from Bakhmut, Ukraine, January 5, 2023. REUTERS/Clodagh Kilcoyne
A U.S. official has mentioned Prigozhin was eyeing the salt and gypsum from the mines, believed to prolong over 100 miles underground and include auditorium-scale caverns.
Ukrainian army analyst Oleh Zhdanov mentioned fighting in Bahkmut and Soledar was “the most intense on the entire frontline”.
“So many remain on the battlefield … either dead or wounded,” he mentioned on YouTube.
“They attack our positions in waves, but the wounded as a rule die where they lie, either from exposure as it is very cold or from blood loss. No one is coming to help them or to collect the dead from the battlefield.”
Reuters couldn’t instantly confirm battlefield studies.
In an evacuee centre in close by Kramatorsk, Olha, 60, mentioned she had fled Soledar after shifting from condominium to condominium as every was destroyed in tank battles.
“There isn’t one house left intact. Apartments were burning, breaking in half,” mentioned Olha, who gave solely her first identify.
APPEAL FOR WEAPONS
Ukrainian officers, led by the commander in chief General Valery Zaluzhniy, have warned that Russia is making ready contemporary troops for a brand new offensive on Ukraine, presumably on the capital Kyiv.
Zelenskiy additionally seems to be banking on securing extra, refined weapons from Ukraine’s Western companions to beat off assaults and ultimately expel Russian troops.
On Monday, he pressed on with diplomatic efforts, talking to Petr Fiala, Prime Minister of the Czech Republic.
“I am certain that our soldiers at the front will get these weapons and equipment. Very soon,” he mentioned.
France, Germany and the United States all pledged final week to ship armoured fighting autos, fulfilling a long-standing Ukrainian request. Britain is contemplating supplying Ukraine with tanks for the primary time, Sky News reported, citing a Western supply. Britain’s Defence Ministry didn’t remark.
Reporting by Reuters bureaus; Writing by Michael Perry and Alex Richardson; Editing by Himani Sarkar and Angus MacSwan
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