Soledar fallen?

Ukraine denies - Russia speaks of the "icing on the cake"

Created: 01/11/2023, 15:40

By: Patrick Mayer

In the Donbass on the defensive: the Ukrainian army.

Here a wounded soldier is treated medically in Soledar.

© Roman Chop/AP/dpa

After heavy fighting in the Donbass, the Ukrainian army is threatened with the loss of the small town of Soledar.

This would put Kramatorsk and Sloviansk within reach of the Russian army.

And not only that.

Munich/Donbass - The signs are growing: Russia is probably back on the offensive in the Ukraine war after many military setbacks.

At least in the east of the country, in the Donbass, where Ukrainian defenders and Russian attackers are fighting each other mercilessly.

Videos on Twitter under the hashtags #bachmut, #bakhmut and #soledar should show this.

The posts cannot be verified.

However, they document obviously fierce fighting while, for example, a US senator warns the United States and the West of a "catastrophic" decision not to adequately support Ukraine in this very situation.

After fierce Russian attacks: Ukrainian army allegedly loses Soledar

, Yevgeny Prigozhin, head of the notorious mercenary group Wagner, announced

on Tuesday evening (January 10) that the town would be seized.

Kyiv denied.

"Soledar was, is and will always be Ukrainian," the Ukrainian army said on Telegram on Wednesday.

Apparently she doesn't want to give up the small town at all.

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Battles at Soledar: Ukrainian army would be severely weakened if defeated

A weakened Ukrainian army:

“The situation is critical.

Difficult,” a Ukrainian soldier from the 46th Air Brigade told news portal

.

According to the report, his unit is to fight in Soledar.

“Nobody will tell you how many dead and wounded there are.

Because nobody really knows.

Not a single person.

Not at headquarters.

Nowhere.

New positions are constantly being taken,” he said: “What was our house today will be Wagner's house the next day.

Nobody counts the dead in Soledar.”

It is certain that the Ukrainian army would emerge from a military defeat in Soledar enormously weakened.

The losses there are and were too high.

“Our units have more or less been renewed by almost half.

We don't even have time to learn each other's call signs," the soldier described said.

While the Ukrainian general staff publishes alleged Russian losses on a daily basis, the Americans, for example, left no doubt that Ukraine's death toll is also high.

"You are dealing with well over 100,000 killed and injured Russian soldiers," said US Army General Mark Milley on November 10.

The same applies "probably to the Ukrainian side".

Nobody will tell you how many dead and wounded there are.

Because nobody really knows.

Not a single person.

Not at headquarters.

Nowhere.

Alleged Ukrainian soldier from Soledar (Source: Ukrainska Pravda)

Deputy Ukrainian Defense Minister Hanna Maljar recently wrote on Telegram that the Ukrainian army no longer consists largely of professional soldiers, but of civilians drafted into military service.

For them, the mission is an “extremely difficult moral and physical test”.

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Fighting for Soledar: Ukraine threatens to lose the entire Donbass

There is a risk of losing the entire Donbass:

Soledar is considered an important building block of the Ukrainian defensive wall in front of the conurbation between Sloviansk and Kramatorsk.

The two major cities form the last metropolitan area in Donbass that the defenders still control.

According to various news agencies, the headquarters of the Ukrainian armed forces are somewhere in the east.

It is not currently known how well Sloviansk and Kramatorsk, and especially the area in front of them, are fortified.

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And: According to the

, the Kramatorsk train station plays a central role in the transport of the Ukrainian army to various sectors of the front.

From here trains go, for example, to the northeast to Izyum (Kharkiv region) or to Kherson, directly to the southern front.

For the time being, however, the focus is on Bachmut, located around 15 kilometers south of Soledar.

British intelligence fears that the Ukrainian troops there could be surrounded from the north should Soledar fall.

The US think tank Institute for the Study of War (ISW) disagrees.

"Even considering the most generous Russian claims, a capture of Soledar would not mean immediate encirclement of Bakhmut," writes ISW in a recent analysis.

The assessment does not explain why this is so.

Instead, on Sunday (January 8), Ukrainian troops had to give up Pidhorodne, a small town just before Bakhmut.

If Russia captures Soledar: Bakhmut in danger - and also Kramatorsk and Slowjansk?

Would the way be free for the Russian army into the interior of Ukraine?

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky himself indicated in a video message how important Soledar is for the entire front.

The resistance there buys time for the whole army, said Zelenskyj.

Bakhmut: A Ukrainian soldier carries mortar shells from a position at the front.

© Libkos/AP/dpa

Soledar, which used to have 10,000 inhabitants, has a huge and complex tunnel system deep underground because of its salt mines.

This apparently connects the small town with Bachmut.

Tanks could allegedly drive through these tunnels, possibly even behind Ukrainian lines.

At least that's what Wagner boss Prigozhin claims.

"The icing on the cake is the Soledar and Bachmut mine system, which is actually a network of underground cities," he explained to Telegram, according to

: "Not only can it accommodate a large group of people at a depth of 80 to 100 meters, but also tanks and armored personnel carriers can move in it.”

This would offer Russian troops protection from American Himars or German Mars missile launchers used by the Ukrainians.

A Ukrainian counter-offensive, as in the summer at Sieverodonetsk and Lysychansk, would be much more risky.

Instead, the Ukrainian army would have to build a new line of defense at Kramatorsk and Sloviansk.

Also to protect Dnipro on the river of the same name behind it.

The third largest city in Ukraine with around one million inhabitants.