Ukraine on Friday said it was containing a “high intensity” Russian offensive in Soledar after “a hot night” in this small town in the east of the country under increased pressure from troops from Moscow.
• Also read: Zelensky promises “everything necessary” to defend Soledar and Bakhmout
• Also read: Five things to know about the Battle of Soledar in Ukraine
• Also read: Ukrainian army defends Soledar despite “difficult situation”
The UN Security Council is scheduled to meet at 20:00 GMT to discuss the situation in Ukraine, almost 11 months after the start of the Russian invasion.
“The enemy has thrown almost all of its main forces towards (the region of) Donetsk and is continuing a high-intensity offensive,” Deputy Defense Minister Ganna Maliar told Telegram.
“The night was hot, fighting continued,” Ms. Maliar added, as the Russians tirelessly tried to seize that area of eastern Ukraine, including the town of Bakhmout, 15 kilometers southwest of Soledar.
“It’s a difficult phase of the war, but we will win it,” she promised.
The capture of Soledar, a small pre-war town of about 10,000 people now completely destroyed, would allow Moscow to finally claim a military victory after a series of humiliating setbacks.
Fighting in and around Soledar has been raging for several months, but its intensity has increased sharply in recent days as the Ukrainian army battles mercenaries from the Russian paramilitary group Wagner in this small town known for its salt mines.
“Our fighters are valiantly trying to hold our defenses,” Ms Maliar said.
According to the Institute for the Study of War (ISW), a US-based body that tracks the progress of the fighting in real time, “Russian forces (actually) probably took Soledar on Jan. 11,” either Wednesday.
To support its claim, the ISW cites “geotagged photos released on January 11 and 12” that “show that Russian forces probably control most, if not all, of Soledar and probably Ukrainian forces from the western outskirts expelled from the place”.
But according to the institute, the capture of the small town is unlikely to “indicate an imminent encirclement of Bakhmut” and “will not allow Russian forces to exercise control of the region’s major Ukrainian land communications lines” .
On Thursday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy pledged to provide “everything necessary” for his army to withstand Russian attacks in Soledar and Bakhmout.
The day before, the leader of the Russian Wagner mercenary group, Yevgeny Prigojine, had called for the capture of Soledar, but this was quickly contradicted not only by Kyiv but also by the Russian Defense Ministry, with whom he has rival ties.
Without providing figures, Mykhaïlo Podoliak, adviser to the Ukrainian Presidency, has already conceded to AFP “significant losses” on his side in this “bloody battle” and assessed them as “enormous” in the opposing camp, which are the Russians, however the Ministry of Defense has not confirmed.
In a sign of the intensity of the Russian offensive, the Ukrainian army said it repelled attacks in more than a dozen locations in the region on Thursday.
“There is still a lot to be done,” Russian Presidency spokesman Dmitry Peskov told the press.
In order to better coordinate and support its attacks on the ground, the Kremlin has had a new chief of operations in Ukraine for two days: General Valéri Guerassimov, a veteran soldier who is also already the head of the general staff of the Russian armies.