"Hot night in Soledar": Russia announces great victory of the Wagner troops

Created: 01/13/2023, 12:35 p.m

By: Bedrettin Bölükbasi, Andreas Schmid, Christian Stör

Moscow has now officially declared the embattled city of Soledar to be occupied.

Kyiv reports ongoing fighting.

Current information in the news ticker.

• New

  commander

  in

  Russia

  : Putin Minister Shoigu changes commander

• Russian

  capture

  of

  Soledar

  ?

  Selenskyj speaks of "propaganda maneuvers"

• This

  news ticker

  on the military situation in the

  Ukraine war

  is constantly

  updated

  .

Update from January 13, 12:25 p.m .:

The Russian Ministry of Defense officially announced on Friday that it would take the embattled city of Soledar in the Donetsk region.

The city was completely under the control of the Russian armed forces on the evening of January 12, the Defense Ministry in Moscow announced on Friday.

Kyiv has not yet confirmed the report.

On Friday morning, Ukraine's Deputy Defense Minister spoke of fighting around the city on Friday night.

It would be the first capture of a city by the Russian army since July, when Lysychansk was captured in the war of aggression against Ukraine.

It would also be an important psychological success for the Russian army, weakened after many defeats.

The head of the Russian paramilitary organization Wagner, Yevgeny Prigozhin, announced on Wednesday that Russian troops had taken control of the city.

The Battle of Soledar is considered one of the bloodiest of the war so far.

Ukraine-News: "Hot night in Soledar" - Kyiv reports Russian offensive with "high intensity"

Update from January 13, 10:07 a.m .:

According to their own statements, the Ukrainian armed forces are currently withstanding a “high intensity” Russian offensive.

Heavy fighting between Russian and Ukrainian troops broke out again on Friday night in the embattled city in Donetsk Oblast.

“It was a hot night in Soledar.

Fighting continued," Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister Ganna Malyar told Telegram on Friday morning. 

Russia has "transferred almost all of its main forces to the Donetsk front and is continuing its offensive at high intensity," she wrote.

We are currently in a "difficult phase of the war, but we will win it," the deputy defense minister continued.

"Our fighters are valiantly trying to hold our defenses."

A Ukrainian army Grad multiple rocket launcher fires rockets at Russian positions on the front line near Soledar.

© Libkos/AP/dpa

In the past few days and weeks, the Russian military leadership has focused its offensive efforts on Soledar and the nearby town of Bakhmut.

With the conquest of the two cities, Moscow wants to achieve another long-awaited success on the battlefield in Ukraine.

Pictures of the Ukraine war: great horror and small moments of happiness

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Bitter fighting for Soledar: Zelenskyj promises reinforcements to Ukrainian troops

Update from January 13, 6.40 a.m .:

The Ukrainian troops in the eastern Ukrainian cities of Bakhmut and Soledar, who have been fending off violent Russian attacks for days, are receiving reinforcements and supplies.

The soldiers there are also given all the support they need.

This was announced by President Zelenskyy after a General Staff meeting in Kyiv on Thursday.

The Russian military has been trying to break through Ukrainian defenses in this part of Ukraine for several weeks.

The mission is to bring the entire Donetsk region, which Moscow has already illegally annexed, under Russian control.

Ukrainian soldier describes current situation in Soledar

Update from January 12, 10:45 p.m .:

In the eastern Ukrainian city of Soledar, Russian and Ukrainian troops continue to fight heavily.

A Ukrainian soldier described the difficult situation in the city to the US broadcaster CNN.

His claims suggest that things are looking bleak for the Ukrainian military right now.

"We tried to withdraw, but the Russians are already there," he told the station about the current situation in the city in the Ukraine war, adding: "If there are no orders to withdraw today, then most likely we won't have time." have to leave town.”

There is no food and water is scarce.

There are also wounded soldiers.

"We were told we were going to withdraw, but now we've just been abandoned," the unnamed soldier said.

It said: "We're going to hold out as long as we can.

But anyone can tire and eventually reach their limit.

It's impossible to keep a good mood for that long.”

War in Ukraine: Ukrainian military may launch counterattacks in Soledar

Update from January 12, 9:15 p.m .:

According to their own statements, the Ukrainian military is carrying out counterattacks in the bloody battles in Soledar.

The Russian military together with Wagner mercenaries try to take the city, while the Ukrainian army resists.

"After withdrawing for several days, we have even made small progress now," wrote the 46th Airmobile Brigade of Ukraine in the short message service Telegram, as reported by the US broadcaster CNN.

“The train station is ours, the mine is ours, we are waiting for support.

Soledar is Ukrainian,” the brigade said.

Ukraine War: Kyiv attacks Putin's troops from the air

Update from January 12, 7:10 p.m .:

According to the Ukrainian general staff, the Ukrainian military is continuing airstrikes against Russian troops in the Ukraine war.

In the course of the day, a total of 20 airstrikes were carried out, according to the general staff's situation report on Facebook on the current situation in the war in Ukraine.

15 of these attacks were carried out on gathering areas of Russian soldiers and another 5 on air defense systems.

In addition, Ukrainian soldiers shot down a Su-25 aircraft and an Orlan-10 drone.

War in Ukraine: Putin's troops try to surround Bakhmut

Update from January 12, 6 p.m.:

According to the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense, the Russian military is still trying to encircle the heavily contested city of Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine.

Both regular Russian troops and mercenaries from the Wagner Group would be used in the heavily contested area in the Ukraine war, said Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maljar, according to the military news portal

.

"The enemy wants to break through the defenses of our troops and take the city," Maljar said of the current situation in the region during the war in Ukraine.

However, the Ukrainian soldiers would "bravely" resist and inflict heavy casualties on the Russian military.

Ukraine war: Kyiv sees no threat from Belarus

Update from January 12, 3:30 p.m .:

According to Kiev, there is currently no threat to Ukraine from Belarusian territory.

This was emphasized by Lieutenant General Serhiy Nayev, commander of the Ukrainian army, according to the Ukrainian state agency Ukrinform.

"Currently, the situation on the Belarusian border does not pose a direct threat to us," the agency quoted the lieutenant general as saying.

In addition, one is constantly in contact with partner countries such as the USA or Poland.

In addition, Ukrainian secret services would also keep an eye on the situation.

"Currently, the composition of the Belarusian units on our state border has not changed either qualitatively or quantitatively," he also emphasized.

Nevertheless, defense capacities and training for Ukrainian soldiers in the area are being increased step by step.

War in Ukraine: Kyiv and Moscow fight for control of Soledar

Update from January 12, 2:20 p.m .: Heavy

fighting continues in the small town of Soledar in eastern Ukraine.

According to the Ukrainian military, it is still able to withstand the onslaught of Russian soldiers.

Both sides spoke of numerous deaths.

The streets of the town are said to be littered with bodies.

Update from January 12, 1 p.m.:

According to Ukrainian information, Russia is increasing its armed forces.

The number of Russian military units in Ukraine has risen to 280 from 250 in the previous week, Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maljar said at a press conference.

She later added to Telegram that Moscow would "move the mobilized from the military training areas in Belarus and Russia to the war and border areas".

The focus of the fighting continues to be the Donetsk region.

However, the Ukrainian military held out in the fighting for the city of Soledar.

“Russia is killing its own people by the thousands.

But we will persevere," said Maljar.

Update from January 12, 11:30 a.m

.: Fighting continues in the Ukrainian city of Soledar in the Donetsk region.

According to Donetsk governor Pavlo Kyrylenko, 559 civilians are still holding out in the small town.

Among them are 15 children.

Because of the fierce fighting, it was impossible to evacuate them from the city.

Before the war, around 10,500 people lived in the town in eastern Ukraine.

Ukraine sees fierce fighting in Soledar: Kyiv names Russia's enormous number of losses

Update from January 12, 10:00 a.m

.: According to information from Kiev, the bloody fighting for the Ukrainian city of Soledar in the Donetsk region continues - Moscow recently did not want to make an official statement about it.

"More than 100 Russians at once were sent to hell in the Soledar region," the Ukrainian military command said.

The Ukrainian armed forces killed more than 100 Russian fighters and destroyed their equipment thanks to coordinated work with artillery and missile troops, it said.

The information could not initially be verified independently.

Ukraine had previously denied Russian claims that Soledar had already been taken.

The Kremlin in Moscow had spoken of "positive dynamics" but said it would wait for official confirmation that Soledar would be taken.

Wagner boss Jegweni Prigozhin, on the other hand, claimed that the city had been conquered.

At the same time, he explained that the area was still being “cleansed” of the remnants of the Ukrainian army.

He had spoken of 500 Ukrainian soldiers killed on Wednesday.

Putin Minister Shoigu changes commander – for “closer cooperation”

Update from January 12, 7:17 a.m

.: Russia is again changing a commander in the Ukraine war: Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu has appointed Chief of Staff Valeri Gerasimov as the new commander of the Russian troops.

Sergei Surovikin, who took over the post last October, is to become his deputy.

Russian capture of Soledar?

Selenskyj speaks of "propaganda maneuvers"

Update from January 11, 9:30 p.m

.: According to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, the Russian side’s announced capture of the heavily contested small town of Soledar in eastern Ukraine is a propaganda maneuver.

"The front in the Donetsk region is holding," said Zelenskyy on Wednesday evening in his daily video address.

"Fighting continues and we are doing everything we can to strengthen Ukraine's defences."

Update from January 11, 8:10 p.m

.: According to the general staff in Kiev, the heavy fighting for the small town of Soledar in eastern Ukraine continues.

In order to bring the entire Donetsk region under its control, the Russian military is trying to attack both Bakhmut and cut off supply routes to neighboring Soledar, the Ukrainian military leadership in Kyiv said on Wednesday.

"Fighting continues," the statement said.

The spokesman for the eastern group of the Ukrainian army, Serhii Cherevatyi, had previously denied Russian reports that the small town had been captured.

Update January 11, 4:15 p.m.:

Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar has denied claims of complete Russian control over the city of Soledar.

"Heavy fighting in Soledar continues," quoted the US broadcaster CNN Maliar from a contribution in the short message service Telegram.

After heavy losses, Russia exchanged units in the area and also increased the number of Wagner mercenaries.

Moscow wants to break through the Ukrainian defense line and take the city completely.

However, these attempts were unsuccessful, according to Maliar.

Ukraine war: Ex-US commander in Europe expects Crimea to be liberated soon

Update from January 11, 1:55 p.m .:

The former commander of the American forces in Europe Ben Hodges, Lieutenant General a.

D., expects Ukraine to recapture Crimea by the end of August.

He emphasized this in an interview with the Ukrainian agency RBC.

"Ukraine will never be safe and will be able to rebuild its economy while Russia controls Crimea," he said.

It is therefore "important to liberate Crimea".

The probability that Russia will use nuclear weapons in the Ukraine war is very small, said Hodges.

After all, this does not give Moscow an advantage on the battlefield.

War of Aggression on Ukraine: Kyiv denies capture of Soledar by Russian troops

Update from January 11, 12:20 p.m .:

The Ukrainian military has rejected Russian information about the situation in the embattled town of Soledar in the Ukraine war.

“The Russians say that Soledar is under their control.

That's not true," spokesman for the Eastern Group of Ukrainian Armed Forces Serhiy Cherevatyy said, according to media reports in Kyiv.

However, the General Staff will not provide any more precise information on the current situation in Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine.

Ukraine-News: Kyiv expects new major attack – Zelenskyj adviser names date for Russia's war of aggression

Update from January 11, 11:25 a.m .:

According to the Ukrainian presidential adviser Oleksiy Arestovich, Kiev soon expects another massive attack by Russian missiles and kamikaze drones from Iran against the whole of Ukraine.

"Sooner or later this will happen," he said, according to the

news agency in an interview with the Russian ex-politician and human rights activist Mark Feigin.

As an approximate date, he gave the period between January 12th and 15th.

Although this does not necessarily have to be the case, the assumption is based on the timing of earlier attacks.

Ukraine war topical: Confusion about Soledar - US experts contradict allegations of Putin mercenaries

Update from January 11, 10:10 a.m .:

Russian claims that Soledar has been completely taken and that the city of Bakhmut is therefore on the verge of being surrounded apparently does not correspond to reality.

This emerges from the latest situation report by the US think tank Institute for the Study of War (ISW) on the Ukraine war.

"Even considering the most generous of Russian claims, a capture of Soledar would not mean immediate encirclement of Bakhmut," the paper reads.

In addition, the capture of Soledar does not necessarily grant Russian troops control of Ukrainian communication lines to Bakhmut.

The Russian military has been trying to take Bakhmut for months, but so far without success.

Ukraine war against Russia: Kiev's general staff does not mention Soledar in the situation report

Update from January 11, 8:35 a.m

.: Observers consider the fact that Soledar is not mentioned in the most recent military situation report on the Ukraine war to be an important indication: the strategically important city could be lost to the Russian attackers.

The Ukrainian General Staff reported repelled attacks at 13 different locations.

But Soledar was not among them.

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

It is the last metropolitan area in the Donbass region that the Ukrainians still control.

The financier of the Russian mercenary group "Wagner", Yevgeny Prigozhin, had previously reported the conquest of Soledar.

Battle for Soledar: probably more than 500 civilians in the Donbass city

Update from January 11, 6:19 a.m

.: There are probably more than 500 civilians in the contested Soledar.

"Some of them would like to leave the city immediately, but this is not possible because of the intense fighting at the moment," Ukrainian military administrator of the Donetsk region Pavlo Kirilenko said on TV.

"Unless there is a safe way out of the city, there is no evacuation."

Strategically important Donbass city Soledar: "Putin's cook" announces capture

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 repelled 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.