Russia Intensifies Assault on Ukrainian Eastern Front

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KYIV/SIVERSK — Russia has stepped up a “powerful assault” Kyiv spoke Monday about the Wagner contract militia’s attack on Soledar in east Ukraine. He described a difficult situation that forces face when trying to repel waves of attacks from the nearby salt mining town.

Bakhmut is located just a few miles away from Soledar in the industrial Donbas. There, troops from both sides have suffered heavy losses in intense trench warfare that began almost 11 months ago when Russia invaded Ukraine.

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The Ukrainian forces defeated an earlier attempt to capture the town. However, a large number Wagner units quickly returned, using fresh tactics and additional soldiers under heavy artillery coverage, Hanna Malyar, Ukrainian deputy defence minister, said on Telegram.

“The enemy literally step over the corpses of their own soldiers, using massed artillery, MLRS systems and mortars,” Malyar stated. She said the attackers were drawn from Wagner’s best reserves.

Russia’s defense ministry did not mention either Soledar or Bakhmut in a regular media briefing on Monday, a day after facing criticism for an apparently false claim of a missile strike on a temporary Ukrainian barracks.

Yevgeny Privozhin, an ally to Russian President Vladimir Putin, founded Wagner. Drawing some recruits from Russia’s prisons and known for uncompromising violence, it is active in conflicts in Africa and has taken a prominent role in Russia’s war effort in Ukraine.

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Prigozhin tried to capture Bakhmut, Soledar, for many months at great personal cost. On Saturday, he said that its significance was in the network of underground mining tunnels.

“It not only (has the ability to hold) a big group of people at a depth of 80-100 meters, but tanks and infantry fighting vehicles can also move about.”

Volodymyr Zeleskiy, President of Ukraine, said on Sunday night in video remarks that Bakhmut (and Soledar) were holding on despite widespread destruction. However, Soledar was destroyed. “things are very difficult.”

According to military analysts the strategic military advantage for Moscow in capturing the towns is limited. According to a U.S. official, Prigozhin has been pursuing the salt and gypsum mines. These mines are believed to be over 100 miles underground. They also contain auditorium-scale caverns.

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Olha, 60, told a nearby evacuee station that she had fled Soledar having moved from apartment to apartment in the aftermath of being destroyed in tank battles.

“All of last week we couldn’t go outside. Everyone was running around, soldiers with automatic weapons, screaming,” Olha was the only one who gave her first name.

“There isn’t one house left intact,” She spoke. “Apartments were burning, breaking in half.”

Pro-Russian bloggers reported that Prigozhin said his forces were fighting to take down the administration building at Soledar.

The Ukrainian military claimed that reinforcements had been sent for the town. Ukrainian police stated that two British volunteers were missing in the area of Soledar.

Heorhil (a Ukrainian soldier aged 28) stated that both sides were using heavy artillery to attack the other 25 miles (40km). According to Heorhil, the Russian regular forces had taken over less experienced fighters from the region.

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“Unfortunately, both sides are suffering big losses, which means also our units have losses,” He spoke of the destruction of houses that were covered in snow. “One should never underestimate the enemy.”

Reuters could not independently verify battlefield reports.

MARKETPLACE TWIST

Regional prosecutors reported that two Russian missile strikes on a Shevchenkove market killed two women, and four other victims were injured in the attack. The incident took place in Kharkiv.

Badly injured people lay on the ground and rescue workers sifted through piles of rubble, overturned and burning stalls, and a large crater, video footage from police and Ukraine’s presidential office showed. From the scene, a police officer carried a little girl covered in blood.

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Russia didn’t immediately respond to the reports about the village, which Kyiv retook from Moscow in September.

Ukrainian authorities reported multiple Russian strikes across the country, including on Ukraine’s second city, Kharkiv, and infrastructure in the regions of Donetsk, Kherson and Mykolaiv – where the regional governor said 15 people were injured in the shelling of a coastal town.

As the war grinds towards the one-year mark, Russia’s military is under domestic pressure to deliver battlefield successes. After high levels of death and injuries, and the loss of captured territory, Hawkish voices want escalation.

Russia initially stated that it needed to expel Ukrainian nationalists. Now, Russia says it is fighting an existential threat from the West. Kyiv, along with its Western allies who have imposed severe sanctions on Moscow and sent weapons to Ukraine for defense, claim the invasion was unprovoked.

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Sky News reported that Britain may supply Ukraine with tanks for its first time. This was a source from the West. Britain’s Ministry of Defence did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

France, Germany, and the United States pledged last week to send armoured fighting vehicles, fulfilling a long-standing request from Ukraine.

According to the Kremlin, the new weapons will be used. “deepen the suffering of the Ukrainian people” However, it will not influence the outcome of the conflict.

(Reporting by Reuters bureaux. Writing by Philippa Fletcher and Frank Jack Daniel. Editing by Peter Graff, Kevin Liffey.