Russia intensifies assaults on Ukrainian salt mining town

Russia has intensified a "powerful attack" on Soledar in eastern Ukraine. Kyiv stated on Monday (9 January) that the Wagner contract militia was leading the assault. He described a difficult situation for forces attempting to repel waves of attacks on the salt mining town and other fronts.

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

Although Ukrainian forces were able to repel an earlier attempt at taking the town, large numbers of Wagner units quickly returned and deployed new tactics under heavy artillery cover. Hanna Malyar, Ukrainian Deputy Defence Minister, stated that they had repelled another attempt to seize the town.

Malyar stated that the enemy "literally step over the corpses their own soldiers using massed gunnery and MLRS systems as well as mortars." She claimed that the attackers were drawn from Wagner’s finest reserves.

Russia's defense ministry didn't mention Bakhmut or Soledar in its regular media briefing Monday. This was a day after being criticised for an apparently false claim about a missile strike against a temporary Ukrainian barracks.

Yevgeny Prizhin, an ally to Russian President Vladimir Putin, founded Wagner. It has recruited from Russia's prisons. It is well-known for its uncompromising violence and active in conflicts within Africa.

Bakhmut and Soledar have been under attack by Prigozhin for several months, at great personal cost. On Saturday (7 January), he stated that the significance of his capture lay in a network underground mining tunnels.

It can hold a large group of people at depths of 80-100 meters, and tanks and infantry fighting vehicles are also able to move around.

Volodymyr Zelenskiy, the Ukrainian President, stated in Sunday's (8 January) nightly video comments that Bakhmut was holding strong despite the widespread destruction and that things were very difficult in Soledar.

According to military analysts, the strategic military benefits for Moscow from capturing these towns would not be significant. According to a US official, Prigozhin is interested in the salt and gypsum mines. These mines are believed to be over 100 miles underground. They also contain auditorium-scale caverns.

Olha, 60 years old, was found in Kramatorsk's evacuee center. She claimed that she fled Soledar, having moved from one apartment to another as each one was destroyed by tanks.

"All week, we couldn't get outside." Olha, who only gave her first name, said that everyone was running around with soldiers carrying automatic weapons screaming.

She said: "There's not one house left intact. Apartments were exploding, breaking in half."

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

According to the Ukrainian military, reinforcements were sent to the village. Two British volunteers are missing in Soledar, according to Ukrainian police.

Heorhil, a 28-year-old Ukrainian soldier, stated that each side was using heavy artillery 25 miles (40km) north of Siversk. He said that the Russian regular forces had replaced less-trained fighters in this area.

He said that both sides were "suffering huge losses which means that also our units are losing", speaking in close proximity to snow-covered houses. "One should not underestimate the enemy."

MARKETPLACE TRIKE

Regional prosecutors stated that a Russian missile struck a market in Shevchenkove further north, killing two women and injuring four others.

People with serious injuries lay on the ground. Rescue workers searched through rubble, burned stalls and large craters, as video footage from the police and Ukraine's presidential offices showed. One police officer carried a girl from the scene with bloody eyes.

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

Ukrainian authorities reported numerous Russian strikes on the country, including Kharkiv, the second largest city in Ukraine, as well as infrastructure in the Donetsk region, Kherson, and Mykolaiv regions. The regional governor claimed that 15 people were wounded in the shelling at a coastal town.

Russia's military faces domestic pressure as the war grinds towards its one-year mark. After the loss of territory captured and high death and injury rates, Hawkish voices are calling for escalation.

Russia initially stated that it needed to expel Ukrainian nationalists. Now, Russia says it is fighting an existential threat from the West. Kyiv and its Western allies have placed broad sanctions on Moscow, and sent weapons to Ukraine to defend themselves, but they claim that the invasion was completely unprovoked.

Sky News reported that Britain may be considering providing Ukraine with tanks. The Ministry of Defence of Britain did not respond immediately to a request for comment.

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

According to the Kremlin, the new weapons would "deepen suffering of the Ukrainian people", but not alter the outcome of conflict.

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