Ukrainian army commander Colonel General Oleksandr Syrskyi gives instructions at a shelter in Soledar, in Ukraine’s Donetsk region, Sunday, January 8. (Roman Chop/AP)
Russian troops are making a new attempt to advance on the small town of Soledar, near Bakhmut, in the eastern Ukrainian region of Donetsk, Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar reported on Telegram on Monday.
After an unsuccessful attempt [anterior] After capturing Soledar which ended in a retreat, the enemy regrouped, restored losses, deployed additional assault units, changed tactics and launched a powerful assault,” Maliar said. “Right now, the enemy has been using a large number of raiding parties formed from the best reserves of Wagner’s troops. The enemy is literally advancing on the corpses of their own soldiers, using massive artillery, multiple rocket launchers and mortars, covering even their own fighters with fire.”
“Intense fighting is continuing right now,” he added.
Earlier this Monday, Serhii Cherevatyi, a Ukrainian military spokesman, told Ukrainian television that Russia had “managed to concentrate more of its units” around Soledar and was deploying both “regular” troops and mercenaries working for the group there. from the private sector Wagner.
The head of the Wagner group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, said on Sunday that one of the reasons he wanted to seize Bakhmut and Soledar was to control the mine system in that area, which he described as “a network of underground cities.”
Cherevatyi, a spokesman for the Eastern Group of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, said they were trying to evacuate civilians from Soledar, but not all of them were ready to leave.
“Soledar is really destroyed,” he said. “There are residents there. Everything possible is being done to evacuate them. Now it is difficult to talk about numbers. There is a part of the people, especially the older generation, who are very afraid of change, of leaving their homes and moving to another place. We are communicating with them, but not always everyone agrees [en marcharse]”.
On Sunday night, Ukrainian President Volodymr Zelensky said that Soledar was “resisting” but that it was “extremely difficult.”