Are the Soledar battles a ‘trap’ for Russia? |
Russia and Ukraine Heavy fighting is taking place in the east of the country, while the forces are making conflicting statements about controlling the salt mining town of Soledar.
Both sides say he has control of the city. RFE/RL is unable to confirm these claims. But Russia military according to the geolocations of its correspondents and bloggers on the Telegram platform, it can be said that Russia forces almost completely captured Soledar. Ukraine forces maintain their positions in the northwest corner of the city, the 46th Weather The Assault Brigade declared that the fighters were surrounded, but they were fighting.
“Current Time”, a Russian-language platform of Azadlig Radio in cooperation with “Voice of America” Ukraine National Deputy commander of the battalion in the Guard Volodymyr Nazarenkowas interviewed by According to him, as a result of the heavy fighting in Soledar, most of the city has been destroyed, but the Ukrainian forces are determined to drive the Russians out of their positions.
“There are almost no intact buildings left there.” – Nazarenko said in an interview from Donetsk.
Military Although analysts question the strategic value of Soledar, or the nearby city of Bakhmut, the Russian advance bodes well for the Kremlin. news will be Russia forces have not been able to capture a single city in Ukraine since July 2022.
Thousands on both sides in heavy battles for these two cities soldier perished has been Nazarenko says that Russia’s advance on the eastern front will be a Pyrrhic victory, as Moscow will hardly be able to maintain any position after so many losses.
“Our job is to exhaust the enemy. Bakhmut and the direction of Bakhmut was a kind of trap for the enemy… They will be exhausted sooner or later.” – he emphasized.
The battles of Soledar and Bakhmut have been going on since last summer. Although Ukrainian officials tried to achieve disproportionate losses of Russian forces with these battles, thousands of Ukrainians soldier is also lost.
President Volodymyr Zelensky Soledarda said that not a single wall was left intact. His chief of staff Andrey Yermak and compared these battles with the longest battles of Verdun in the 1st World War. Governor of Donetsk region Pavlo Kirilenko he called the area “blood basin”.
Kirilenko before the war 10 He said that only 600 residents remain in Soledar, which has a population of more than 1,000. Neighboring the forces of numerous agencies of Russia village and said that he evacuated 170 people from the cities.
The Soledar battles also exposed the contradictions between the Russian regular forces and the Wagner mercenary group. Wagner has been leading the attack on Soledar and Bakhmut for months. According to many analysts, Wagner’s head, Yevgeny Prigozhin, captured the area where the Russian soldiers were deadlocked by his own forces. in Moscow political hopes to strengthen the position.
of Russia Ministry of Defence On January 13, he issued a statement about taking control of Soledar, but did not mention Wagner by name. Soon after, one of the commanders in Wagner Andrey Troshev In a Telegram post, he accused the ministry of stealing “other people’s successes”.
“of Ukraine in the east, three armies seem to be fighting: the Ukrainian army and the two armies of Russia, which have weak ties and compete with each other. In general, they don’t like each other.” – Head of the “Russian Sedentary” fund Olga Romanova He told “Current Time”.
USA 4,000 of Wagner’s 50,000 mercenaries were killed on the front lines in Soledar and Bakhmut, 10 says that the mini is injured. Although these battles revealed contradictions between Moscow’s forces, Wagner’s fighting at Soledar allowed Russian units to be sent elsewhere.
In recent months, Wagner has recruited thousands of prisoners. Prigozhin personally visited the prisons and made propaganda.