Kyiv is reportedly rushing reinforcements to the eastern Donetsk region amid unconfirmed reports of Russian gains in and around the flashpoint towns of Bakhmut and Soledar.
“Our troops in Soledar have been allocated additional forces,” Serhiy Cherevaty, a spokesman for the Ukrainian military’s Eastern Command, said on Jan. 9.
“Everything is being done to improve the operational situation there.”
Known for its expansive salt mines, Soledar is located roughly 12 miles to the northeast of Bakhmut, which has remained the scene of fierce ground fighting for the past several months.
Both towns are located in the eastern Donetsk province. Donetsk and the neighboring Luhansk province together comprise the Russian-speaking Donbas region.
Bakhmut (Artyomovsk in Russian) is located roughly 55 miles north of Donetsk city, the region’s provincial capital.
Traversed by major road arteries and railway lines, Bakhmut is a vital transport hub that Kyiv relies on to resupply forces deployed in the Donbas region.
According to military analysts, the fall of Bakhmut to Russian forces would severely disrupt Ukrainian supply lines to the eastern front.
Wagner Group in Action
Russian forces deployed in the area reportedly include elements of the Donetsk People’s Militia and the Wagner Group, a paramilitary organization directed by the Kremlin.In February 2022, Russian forces invaded Ukraine with the stated aim of protecting pro-Russian separatists in Donbas from alleged abuses by the Kyiv government.
Kyiv and its Western allies, for their part, view Russia’s “special military operation” in Ukraine as “unprovoked aggression” against a sovereign nation.
In September 2022, Moscow formally incorporated Donetsk and Luhansk—along with two other regions—into the Russian Federation after holding controversial referendums.
Moscow now considers all four regions as Russian Federation territory.
Zelenskyy: Situation in Soledar ‘Very Difficult’
In a Jan. 8 statement, the Ukrainian military claimed that its forces had successfully countered multiple Russian attempts to “storm the city of Soledar from different directions.”Later the same day, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, in a nightly televised address, said Ukrainian forces in both Bakhmut and Soledar had repelled “constant Russian attempts to advance.”
He went on to concede, however, that the situation in Soledar was “very difficult.”
Within the past 24 hours, several pro-Russian sources have made claims—which remain unconfirmed—that Russian forces and their local allies had made significant gains in the region.
On the morning of Jan. 9, a pro-Russian source in Donetsk said the village of Bakhmutske, located to the immediate south of Soledar, had been captured by Russian forces.
‘Foothold’ in Soledar
On Jan. 9, Apty Alaudinov, a commander of the pro-Russian Luhansk People’s Militia, predicted that both Soledar and Bakhmut would fall to Russian forces “within days.”Wagner fighters “have managed to make good progress in the areas that were crucial for Ukrainian troop logistics,” Alaudinov was quoted as saying by Russia’s TASS news agency.
He said that Wagner units had established a “foothold” in Soledar and were now “advancing at a good pace.”
It remains unclear whether the claimed Russian “foothold” in Soledar referred to the alleged capture of Bakhmutske.
According to Ivan Filiponenko, a spokesman for the pro-Russian Luhansk People’s Militia, a “massive retreat” by Ukrainian forces is now underway in “urban areas” of Soledar.
Quoted by the Russian media on Jan. 9, Filiponenko claimed that Ukrainian commanders had ordered a nighttime withdrawal from the beleaguered city.
The Epoch Times was unable to verify the assertions.
