Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Wednesday evening that the fighting continued in Soledar, while the Wagner mercenary group had claimed the conquest of this small town in eastern Ukraine.
Of “fierce fightingbetween Ukrainian and Russian forces was underway in Soledar on Wednesday according to Kyiv and Moscow, as the Wagner mercenary group had earlier claimed control of the small town in eastern Ukraine. “Everything that is happening today towards Bakhmout or Soledar is the bloodiest scenario of this war“, told AFP Mykhaïlo Podoliak, adviser to the Ukrainian presidency, during an interview on Wednesday.
The fighting escalates
The fights “continue” in Soledar, the front “is holding”, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in the evening. “We are doing everything to strengthen the Ukrainian defense without any break, even for a day” in the eastern Donetsk region, he said. Soledar, a mining town of 10,000 inhabitants, is located near the larger town of Bakhmout, which the Ukrainians have been defending fiercely for several months against waves of assaults by Russian forces. Its capture would allow Moscow to finally brandish a military victory, after several humiliating setbacks since September, and for the leader of the Wagner group, Yevgeny Prigojine, to reinforce his growing influence on the Russian political scene. The group of Russian mercenaries Wagner has claimed responsibility for its capture, which would finally constitute a military victory for Moscow, after several humiliating setbacks since September, but it has been denied not only by the Ukrainian military but also by the Russian army.
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“Intense fighting continues in Soledar”, Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister Ganna Maliar said on Telegram. According to her, the Russians “tried to break through the defense” Ukrainian and “completely” seize this locality, “but without success”. On the scale of the whole of Ukraine, “during the day, the enemy carried out two missile strikes and 22 air strikes”, summed up the Ukrainian Defense Ministry. “Assault forces are fighting in the city”, for its part assured the Russian Ministry of Defense in a press release, specifying that “airborne units blocked the northern and southern parts” by Soledar. In the region of Lugansk alone, neighboring that of Donetsk, the Russians have “gathered” around 30,000 soldiers, also reported its Ukrainian governor, Serguiï Gaïdaï.
Kremlin cautious, “huge losses”
The Kremlin, which is wont to reign over rival forces – in this case Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigojine and the Defense Ministry – has been cautious about the situation on the ground. “You don’t have to rush. We are waiting for official declarations”, spokesman for the Russian presidency, Dmitry Peskov, told the press, while considering that there was “a positive dynamic in the advances” of the Russian forces. According to Mykhaïlo Podoliak, adviser to the Ukrainian presidency, the Russian military losses are there “huge” and “the Ukrainian army is also losing men”.“Certainly, it is more than what has been elsewhere before”, he told AFP.
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At the same time in Moscow, in a new change of military leadership, the last episodes of which were considered to be dictated by the major disappointments encountered on the ground, it was the Chief of the Defense Staff, General Valéri Guerassimov – a direct interlocutor of Vladimir Putin – who was appointed “commander of the combined troop grouping” deployed in Ukraine. “The increase in the level of command of the special operation (in Ukraine) is connected with an expansion of the scope of the missions to be performed, the need to conduct closer interaction between the components of the armed forces”explained the Ministry of Defense in a press release.
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Appeal to Westerners, Warsaw promises tanks
At the same time, Ukraine reiterated its calls to its Western partners, on the eve of a new meeting at the American base of Ramstein in Germany on January 20, to obtain heavy and long-range armaments. “Only missiles with a range of more than 100 kilometers will allow us to significantly accelerate the liberation of the territories”argued Mykhaïlo Podoliak in his statements to AFP, promising that they would not be used against Russian territory. “We still want to get 250-350 heavy tanks,” he repeated. Western chancelleries are slow to respond favorably to kyiv’s requests on this point and Paris, London, Berlin and Washington have only promised tanks and other light armored vehicles at this stage.
But Poland took a first step on Wednesday, saying it was ready to deliver a company of German Leopard 2 heavy tanks, or 14 units. This delivery will be made “as part of a coalition that is being built”declared its president Andrzej Duda, during a joint press conference with his Ukrainian and Lithuanian counterparts, in Lviv in western Ukraine. “One state alone cannot help us, because we are fighting against thousands of Russian tanks,” responded President Zelensky. “I think today there will be a positive (decision) from another state to provide us with modern Western-style tanks”he added, without naming this country.
SEE ALSO – Ukraine: “There are hardly any intact walls leftin Soledar where the fighting is intensifying, according to Zelensky