Fighting is intensifying between Russian and Ukrainian forces in Soledar, eastern Ukraine, the Ukrainian government said yesterday (9th).
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a video address that night that Soledar’s walls had all collapsed without standing and were covered with Russian corpses.
“The resistance of our soldiers in Soledar gave us extra time and strength,” he said.
“The enemy is literally stepping on the corpses of their own soldiers and using mass artillery fire, multiple launch rocket launchers (MLRS) and mortars,” Ukraine’s Deputy Defense Minister Hannah Malyaar said on Telegram.
At the same time, it was revealed that this attack was made by troops selected from the best reserve forces belonging to the mercenary group Wagner in Russia.
Soledar is located a few miles from Bakhmut, where both sides are suffering heavy losses in the fiercest trench warfare since Russia invaded Ukraine.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian police said two British nationals were missing while volunteering near Soledar.
VOA News
*This article was sourced from Archyde.com.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in nightly video remarks on Monday that Bakhmut and Soledar were holding on despite widespread destruction.
He cited new and fiercer attacks in Soledar, where he said no walls have been left standing and the land is covered with Russian corpses.
“Thanks to the resilience of our soldiers in Soledar, we have won for Ukraine additional time and additional strength,” Zelenskiy said. He did not spell out what he meant by gaining time or strength.
But Ukrainian officials, led by the commander in chief General Valery Zaluzhniy, have warned that Russia is preparing fresh troops for a new, major offensive on Ukraine, possibly on the capital Kyiv.
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KYIV/SIVERSK, Ukraine, Jan 10 (Archyde.com) – Russia has stepped up a powerful assault on Soledar in eastern Ukraine, officials in Kyiv said, forcing Ukrainian troops to repel waves of attacks led by the Wagner contract militia around the salt mining town and nearby fronts.
Soledar, in the industrial Donbas region, lies a few miles from Bakhmut, where troops from both sides have been taking heavy losses in some of the most intense trench warfare since Russia invaded Ukraine nearly 11 months ago.
Ukrainian forces repelled an earlier attempt to take the town but a large number of Wagner Group units quickly returned, deploying new tactics and more soldiers under heavy artillery cover, Ukrainian Deputy Defence Minister Hanna Malyar said on Monday on the Telegram messaging app.
“The enemy literally step over the corpses of their own soldiers, using massed artillery, MLRS systems and mortars,” Malyar said.
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The Ukrainian military said reinforcements had been sent to the town. Two British voluntary workers are missing near Soledar, Ukrainian police said.
