Russian troops have stepped up an assault on the town of Soledar in eastern Ukraine, forcing Ukrainian troops to repel waves of attacks led by mercenary forces, officials in Kyiv said. Britain’s defence ministry said on Tuesday that Russian and forces of the Wagner contract group were probably now in control of most of the small salt mining town after advances in the last four days. Latest Defence Intelligence update on the situation in Ukraine - 10 January 2023 Find out more about the UK government's response: https://t.co/aFDNytdSEu 🇺🇦 #StandWithUkraine 🇺🇦 pic.twitter.com/5Bg8NCKRNt — Ministry of Defence 🇬🇧 (@DefenceHQ) January 10, 2023 Soledar, in the industrial Donbas region, lies a few kilometres from Bakhmut, where troops from both sides have been taking heavy losses in some of the most intense trench warfare since Russia invaded Ukraine nearly 11 months ago. “Russia’s Soledar axis is highly likely an effort to envelop Bakhmut from the north, and to disrupt Ukrainian lines of communication,” Britain said in an intelligence brief. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in his nightly video address on Monday that Bakhmut and Soledar were holding on despite widespread destruction. He cited new and fiercer attacks in Soledar, where he said no walls have been left standing and the land was covered with Russian corpses. Russia faces revolution and collapse within 10 years, experts say “Everything is completely destroyed … the whole land in Soledar is covered with corpses of the invaders and is scarred from the explosions,” the Ukrainian leader said. “Thanks to the resilience of our soldiers in Soledar, we have won for Ukraine additional time and additional strength,” Zelensky said. He did not spell out what he meant by gaining time or strength. Russia’s defence 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 . Separately, Wagner’s founder Yevgeny Prigozhin said on social media that Soledar was being stormed “exclusively” by the group’s units. Prigozhin is an ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Drawing some recruits from Russia’s prisons and known for uncompromising violence, Wagner is active in conflicts in Africa and has taken a prominent role in Russia’s war effort in Ukraine. Prigozhin has been trying to capture Bakhmut and Soledar for months at the cost of many lives on both sides. He said on Saturday its significance lay in a network of cavernous mining tunnels below the ground, which can hold troops or tanks. A US official has said Prigozhin was eyeing the salt and gypsum from the mines , believed to extend over 160km (100 miles) underground and contain auditorium-scale caverns. Ukrainian military analyst Oleh Zhdanov said fighting in Bahkmut and Soledar was “the most intense on the entire front line”. Russia says strike kills 600 Ukraine soldiers, but Kyiv denies claim “So many remain on the battlefield … either dead or wounded,” he said on YouTube. “They attack our positions in waves, but the wounded as a rule die where they lie, either from exposure as it is very cold or from blood loss. No one is coming to help them or to collect the dead from the battlefield.” Reuters could not immediately verify battlefield reports. Moscow has also cast the conflict as a fight between Russia and hostile Western nations. “The events in Ukraine are not a clash between Moscow and Kyiv – this is a military confrontation between Russia and Nato, and above all the United States and Britain,” Russian Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev said on Tuesday. In an evacuee centre in nearby Kramatorsk, Olha, 60, said she had fled Soledar after moving from flat to flat as each was destroyed in tank battles. “There isn’t one house left intact. Apartments were burning, breaking in half,” said Olha, who gave only her first name. Russia also appointed Colonel General Alexander Lapin as chief of staff of the country’s ground forces, state-owned news agency TASS reported on Tuesday, despite fierce criticism from leading hawks over his performance in Ukraine. Lapin, previously commander of Russia’s central military district, was blasted last October by hawkish allies of Putin after Russian forces were driven out of the city of Lyman in eastern Ukraine, a key logistics hub. Ukrainian officials, led by the commander in chief General Valery Zaluzhniy, have warned that Russia is preparing fresh troops for a new offensive on Ukraine, possibly on the capital Kyiv. Zelensky also appears to be banking on securing more, sophisticated weapons from Ukraine’s Western partners to beat off attacks and eventually expel Russian troops. Why China won’t be a mediator in Ukraine conflict any time soon On Monday, he pressed on with diplomatic efforts, speaking to Petr Fiala, Prime Minister of the Czech Republic. “I am certain that our soldiers at the front will get these weapons and equipment. Very soon,” he said. France, Germany and the United States all pledged last week to send armoured fighting vehicles, fulfilling a long-standing Ukrainian request. Britain is considering supplying Ukraine with tanks for the first time, Sky News reported, citing a Western source. Britain’s Defence Ministry did not comment. Additional reporting by Agence France-Presse
