Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Thursday that Ukrainian forces defending Bakhmut and Soledar in the east would be armed with everything they need to keep Russian troops at bay in some of the bloodiest combat of the war. Kyiv earlier said its troops were struggling to retain control of the now-battered industrial towns in the east, which Russian mercenaries claimed earlier this week to have taken.
Hundreds of civilians remain trapped in Soledar, Ukraine said, while bloody battles for control of the largely devastated salt mining town continue. Donetsk governor Pavlo Kyrylenko told Ukrainian state television that 559 civilians, including 15 children, remained in Soledar and could not be evacuated.
The Ukrainian military has denied that Russian forces encircled and captured Soledar. Ukrainian forces are “holding on” while “bitter fighting” continues in the city, Ukraine’s Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar said on Thursday. The Ukrainian military claimed its forces killed more than 100 Russian soldiers in a single attack in Soledar, while Volodymyr Zelenskyy previously ridiculed Russia’s claims that it had taken the town and said fighting was ongoing.
Satellite imagery captured by Maxar Technologies shows the destruction inflicted on Soledar. The Guardian has a number of stunning images from inside the eastern Ukrainian city.
President Vladimir Putin’s move to replace his supreme commander in Ukraine after several months is a sign of military disarray and his growing impatience in a war Russia is not winning, analysts said. The Defense Ministry in Moscow said on Wednesday it had once again replaced its commander-in-chief in Ukraine, putting Chief of Staff Valery Gerasimov at the helm. It is the latest in a series of major reshuffles in Moscow’s military leadership.
More than a dozen senior EU officials are due to meet Ukrainian government officials in Kyiv on February 2. a day before the EU-Ukraine summit, a spokeswoman for the European Commission said on Thursday.
A spokesman for Ukraine’s Air Force Command has warned of possible rocket attacks from Belarus. In a statement televised today, Yuriy Ihnat said that most of the ballistic missiles at the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine were launched from Belarusian territory. During a visit to Lviv on Wednesday, Zelenskyy urged his forces to be ready “both on the border and in the regions” near Belarus amid fears that Russia could launch a new attack from the north.
The head of Russia’s Wagner mercenary group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, has claimed his troops found the body of one of two British volunteers who were reported missing in eastern Ukraine. In a statement published on his Telegram channel late Wednesday, Prigozhin did not mention the dead man’s name but said documents belonging to both Britons were found near his body.
A former Russian deputy defense minister has suggested that the country could raise the age limit for conscription from 27 to 30 for this year’s spring election campaign. Andrey Kartapolov, the chairman of the State Duma Defense Committee, suggested that the change could take place without changing the lower bar for compulsory military service from 18 years.
Russian Ground Forces Commander Oleg Salyukov visited Belarus on Thursday to inspect the combat readiness of a joint force stationed there. This was announced by the Belarusian Ministry of Defense. Salyukov was yesterday appointed as one of the deputy commanders of Russia’s military operation in Ukraine in the latest in a series of reshuffles. His visit comes as Russia and Belarus have expanded their joint military training exercises in Belarus.
A US Navy veteran has been released after nearly a year in Russian detention, according to his family. taylor dudley, 35, Michigan, was taken into custody by Russian border police last April after crossing the border from Poland into Kaliningrad, a Russian exclave between Poland and Lithuania.
A Ukrainian soldier underwent successful surgery to remove an unexploded grenade from his chest, senior officials in Kyiv said. Surgeons removed the weapon just below the injured soldier’s heart while two sappers made sure the operation was carried out safely, said Hanna Maliar, Ukraine’s deputy defense minister.
According to a spokesman for No 10, the British government plans to provide Ukraine with tanks to help the country defend itself. Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, the spokesman said Rishi Sunak had asked his Secretary of Defense, Ben Wallace, to “work with partners” and provide further support to Ukraine, “including providing tanks.”
Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck demanded that Germany should not stand in the way of other countries’ military support for Ukraine. It comes after Poland’s President Andrzej Duda announced plans to send 10 German-made Leopard tanks to Ukraine as part of an international coalition. Permission from Germany would be required for the transfer.
Turkey has summoned the Swedish ambassador to a protest in Stockholm where a puppet of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan was hung by its feet. Footage shared by pro-government Turkish media showed what they said was supporters of the Kurdish militant group PKK who hung an effigy of the Turkish leader during a demonstration outside Stockholm City Hall. Sweden is trying to get Turkey’s approval for its NATO membership, which it applied for after Russia invaded Ukraine last year. Ankara has said Stockholm must crack down on Kurdish groups it considers “terrorists”.