"Putin's cook" announces capture of strategically important Donbass city of Soledar

Created: 01/11/2023 05:36

By: Andreas Schmid

Also known as "Putin's Chef": Yevgeny Prigozhin (archive image from 2016) © ITAR-TASS/Imago

Russia announces the capture of Soledar, Kyiv is preparing for new attacks from Belarus.

All information in the news ticker.

• Ukraine

  prepares for possible

  Kiev attack

  : Attack from Belarus?

• Russian advances

  in

  Donbass

  : Wagner mercenaries advance in Soledar.

• This

  news ticker

  on the military situation in the

  Ukraine war

  is constantly

  updated

  .

Update from January 10, 8:52 p.m

.: After days of heavy fighting for the eastern Ukrainian city of Soledar, members of the notorious Russian mercenary group Wagner announced the conquest of the place.

According to the Russian state agency TASS, Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin announced on Tuesday evening that Soledar had been conquered.

A group of Ukrainian soldiers was still surrounded in the center of the village.

"The number of prisoners of war will be announced tomorrow," Prigozhin was quoted as saying.

A telegram channel of the Wagner group also said that the encircled Ukrainian soldiers had been given an ultimatum to surrender by midnight.

The information could not initially be independently verified.

There was initially no comment from the Ukrainian side.

Update from January 10, 10:10 p.m

.: Soledar remains the epicenter of the Ukraine war.

According to information from Kyiv, Russian troops continued their assault attacks on the city of Soledar in eastern Ukraine.

"Heavy fighting to defend Soledar continues," Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maljar said on Telegram in the evening.

"Regardless of the losses, the enemy continues to attack." The front of the Ukrainian defense lines is "littered with the corpses of the attackers".

The regular Russian troops are also supported by various mercenary troops, including the infamous Wagner group.

This published video images on Telegram on Tuesday that allegedly come from the center of Soledar.

The less meaningful recording, which shows two hooded soldiers in front of a damaged administration building, could not be independently confirmed.

Ukraine prepares for possible Kyiv attack: Attack from Belarus?

First report from January 10, 8 p.m.:

Kiev – The Ukrainian military is preparing for a possible new attack by Russian ground troops in the direction of the capital Kiev.

Russian soldiers are said to be moving to Kyiv from Belarus, of all places.

Recently, there had been repeated speculation about a Belarusian entry into the war.

Belarus ruler Alexander Lukashenko met his confidant Vladimir Putin in December - but denied any war plans.

Kyiv, in turn, is now preparing precisely for such an attack.

The reports reached the world community on the day that Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock made a surprise trip to eastern Ukraine.

Defense positions in the north of the country have already been prepared or reinforced, said Lieutenant General Oleksiy Pavlyuk, who is responsible for the defense of Kiev.

In order to prevent rapid tank advances by Russian units, larger minefields were laid at all points accessible to tanks.

If the attackers could not get through these barriers, it would be easier for Ukrainian artillery to smash the troop concentrations.

Right at the beginning of the Russian war of aggression in February last year, the Ukrainian armed forces repulsed an advance by Russian troops from Belarus towards Kyiv.

A column of Russian tanks and vehicles many kilometers long was decimated in the dense forests north of Kyiv and forced to retreat.

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Russian advances in Donbass: Wagner mercenaries advance in Soledar

The Ukrainian leadership fears another attack by the Russian army, which has been stationing stronger units along the Ukrainian border in Belarus for several weeks.

Military experts believe that Russian units in Belarus are not yet strong enough to launch such an attack.

Nevertheless, they are tying down Ukrainian troops, who are missing on other front sectors as a result, for example in the Donbass region of Soledar near Bakhmut.

British intelligence reported on Tuesday Russian gains in the region.

Regular Russian troops and Wagner units have made tactical advances over the past four days.

They probably controlled most of the place.

According to Ukrainian sources, Russia has now shelled the city 86 times, saying it was "virtually destroyed".

Wagner fighters from Putin's friend Yevgeny Prigozhin ("Putin's cook") have been trying in vain for months to take the city of Bakhmut.

Now they could achieve a decisive turn in the struggle for the strategically important Donbass city.