The intelligence of the Ministry of Defense of Great Britain claims that the Russian regular army and units of the private military company "Wagner" have tactically advanced in the last four days in Solyadar of the Donetsk region and, presumably, control most of this city.

"Saladar is located 10 kilometers north of Bakhmut, the capture of which, presumably, remains the main immediate operational goal of Russia.

For Russia, the axis of solidarity is, most likely, an attempt to surround Bakhmut from the north and destroy Ukrainian communications," British intelligence believes.

According to British scouts, part of the fighting is concentrated at the entrances to the 200-kilometer salt mine tunnels that pass under the Bakhmut district.

"Both sides are likely to be concerned that these tunnels could be used to infiltrate the rear," British military intelligence said.

"Despite the increased pressure on Bakhmut, Russia is unlikely to surround the city in the near future, because the Ukrainian troops maintain a stable depth of defense and control over the supply routes," the intelligence officers are convinced.

The General Staff of Ukraine does not clarify the picture of the battles near Bakhmut and Solyadar

In the traditional morning summary of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, there are few details about the fighting in the most hot spot of the Ukrainian Donbass.

The spokesman of the General Staff

, said that the Russian troops are concentrating their efforts on the former goal of seizing the Donetsk region within the administrative boundaries.

The Russians declared this goal from the beginning of the full-scale war on February 24, 2022, but for 321 days now, the Ukrainians have not allowed them to achieve it.

According to Andrey Kovalev, over the last day, units of the defense forces repelled Russian attacks near three settlements in the Luhansk region, and about ten settlements in the Donetsk region, including near Bakhmut and Solyadar.

Simultaneously with the offensive, the Russians intensified their artillery shelling on all the settlements of the Bakhmut-Saladar axis.

The General Staff reported that 25 villages and towns were affected by shelling in the direction of Bakhmut.

Both sides — both Russia and Ukraine — are intensively deploying troops in this direction.

None of them is going to retreat, despite heavy losses.

In Kiev, they claim that the Russians retreated near Solyadar

The Deputy Minister of Defense of Ukraine

, stated that the Russians, after an "unsuccessful attempt" to capture Solyadar, retreated and regrouped, and then launched a new powerful assault on the city with the help of additional units.

"The enemy engaged a large number of assault groups formed from the best reserves of the Wagnerians.

The enemy is literally attacking the bodies of his own soldiers, intensively using artillery, volley fire systems and mortars, covering his own fighters with fire," said Anna Malyar.

The deputy minister of defense emphasized that now the fiercest battles are taking place near Solyadar.

Russian summaries avoid mentioning the battles near Bakhmut and Solyadar

The Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation informs only that Russian troops are continuing their offensive and shelling in the entire area of ​​the battle in the Donetsk direction at daily briefings.

According to the Russian Ministry of Defense, the Ukrainian army is suffering heavy losses in manpower and equipment.

The American Institute for the Study of War claims that units of the private company "Wagner" are fighting most under Solyadar, and its leader and financier Yevgeny Prigozhin uses all reports of success in that direction to strengthen the reputation of his army as the most effective fighting force on the territory of Ukraine.

A few days ago, the US administration said that the increase in the number of "Wagnerians" fighting near Bakhmut and Salyadar is connected with Yevgeny Prigozhin's interest in gaining control over the extraction of salt and gypsum from the mines in the vicinity of Bakhmut.

But Prigozhin himself explained that he considers the large system of mines and tunnels as a reliable and safe opportunity to deploy additional forces and military equipment in them to break through the defense of Ukrainians and reach the administrative borders of the Donetsk region.

How important are Bakhmut and Solyadar

Bakhmut (from 1924 to 2016 - Artemovsk) is the center of the salt industry, a major railway hub.

Bakhmut had this status before the full-scale Russian invasion in 2022.

More than 80 thousand people lived in the city.

Russian propagandists often deliberately call the city Artemovsk, the old Soviet name.

They have been unsuccessfully trying to take Bakhmut for almost a year, Ukrainian troops repel all attacks.

Salyadar is located in the Bakhmut district of the Donetsk region, 11 kilometers from Bakhmut.

It has two railway stations.

The largest salt production enterprise in Ukraine "Artemsol" was located here.

Before the war, 10,500 people lived in the city.

According to the Ukrainian authorities, as a result of the hostilities, both cities have great destruction.

Russia's war against Ukraine

• At 5 o'clock in the morning on February 24, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced the start of a military operation against Ukraine in the Donbass at the request of the "DPR" and "LPR" groups.

  On February 21, during a televised address to Russians, Putin called the so-called "DPR" and "LPR" independent states within the regions.

  On February 22, the Federation Council ratified this decision.

• All days of the war, Ukrainian cities were bombarded with rockets, aircraft flew over them.

  Russian troops are attacking, including from the territory of Belarus, using airfields, bases and roads.

  Representatives of Lukashenka's regime justify the war, his opponents consider the territory of Belarus to be occupied, many call for resistance to the Russian invaders.

• On February 27, the International Legion of Territorial Defense was created in Ukraine, and foreign volunteers were invited to join it.

  Belarusians also entered there.

• In 2022, 17 Belarusians were killed in Ukraine fighting for its independence.

  These are ten soldiers of the Kalinovsky Regiment and seven from other units fighting in the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

  It is known about two Belarusian soldiers who were captured by the Russians.

• On March 30, the UN approved the composition of an independent commission that will investigate Russian war crimes in Ukraine.

  It included people who worked in the analysis of the genocide in Rwanda and Bosnia and Herzegovina.

• Contrary to Putin's statements about attacks only on military facilities, the Russians are bombing schools, kindergartens and residential areas of Ukrainian cities.

  The Russians are using banned weapons, including cluster bombs, against civilians.

• On April 1, Lithuania became the first country in the European Union to completely abandon Russian gas.

  Latvia and Estonia followed her example.

  Germany has promised to completely stop using Russian oil by the end of 2022.

• On April 2, after the liberation of the town of Bucha near Kyiv, photojournalists published dozens of photographs showing hundreds of dead people, victims of mass murders committed by Russian troops.

  Many are buried in spontaneous mass graves.

  The Russian occupation also brought great destruction to the people of Barodyan.

  It is also known about a number of rapes, including babies.

• On May 9, the US President signed the Land Leasing Law.

  This law restores the program from the Second World War, which will speed up the supply of weapons to Ukraine and increase the amount of such assistance.

• In June, two volunteers from Great Britain and one from Morocco were sentenced to death in the so-called "DNR".

  The same punishment threatens some other prisoners.

• On July 29, as a result of an attack on the colony in Alenivka, at least 53 Ukrainian prisoners who previously defended the "Azovstal" plant and surrendered after completing their mission were killed.

  The Russians accused Ukraine of the attack, the Ukrainian side declared that the prisoners were deliberately killed by the Russian side.

• Officials of Ukraine claim the death of 10,000 to 13,000 Ukrainian soldiers.

  Russia claims that more than 110,000 Ukrainian soldiers were killed and wounded.

• The military staffs of the USA and Europe assessed the losses of Russia and Ukraine as parity - about 100,000 soldiers on each side.

• During the six months of the war, Russia was able to occupy about 20% of the Ukrainian territory.

  In March, the area of ​​occupied land reached 30%.

  However, at the end of the month, Russian troops retreated from the north of Ukraine, as well as partially from Kharkiv.

  At the end of August, Crimea, Luhansk and Kherson regions were completely occupied.

  And also 50% of the territory of the Donetsk region, about 70% of the Zaporizhia region, approximately 30% of the Kharkiv region.

• Since February 24, Russia has captured only one regional center - Kherson.

  Russian troops left it in November.

  The city was occupied by Russian troops in the first days of the war without actually fighting.

  Kyiv suspects part of the former leadership of Kherson and the region of treason.

  The former head of the SBU of the Kharkiv region was also detained on such suspicion.

  Now the front line in the Kherson region runs along the Dnieper.

  The Russian military regularly bombards Kherson and other territories on the right bank of the Dnieper.

• In September, Ukrainian troops launched a large-scale counteroffensive, as a result of which Russian forces began to rapidly flee from their positions in the Kharkiv region.

  Only on the day of September 11, Ukrainians liberated more than 20 settlements in Slobazhan region.

• In September, Ukraine withdrew its mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo under the AAN to send an aviation unit to defend against Russian aggression.

• On September 21, Putin announced the mobilization in Russia.

  After this statement, thousands of Russians went to the border crossings and began to leave for Georgia, Kazakhstan, Armenia, Mongolia, Finland and other countries.

  In Russia itself, opponents of the war set fire to several military offices.

  Even people without military experience began to be conscripted into the army, despite promises that only experienced people would go to war.

  The mobilization of men into the Russian army also takes place in the occupied territories of Ukraine.

• On October 2, Putin submitted a bill to the Russian parliament, which is an attempt to annex parts of four regions of Ukraine.

  Two new republics - "LPR" and "DNR" - and two regions - Zaporizhia and Kherson will be part of Russia.

  But thanks to the counteroffensive of the Ukrainians, the borders drawn in Moscow are no longer fully controlled by the occupying forces.

• In October, Ukrainian troops successfully continued their counteroffensive, at the beginning of October they liberated Liman and Yampal, and also came significantly closer to Svatov in the Luhansk region, and from there the way to Severodanetsk and Lysichansk opens.

• On the morning of October 10, the Russians began intensive shelling of Ukrainian territory, including the center of Kyiv.

  Rockets also reached Lviv, depriving the city of electricity.

• On October 10, Lukashenka held a meeting with the Security Council and announced the deployment of a joint grouping of troops with Putin.

• On November 11, after successful battles in the south, Ukrainian troops entered Kherson.

  The Russians blew up several bridges in the region during their retreat.

• On the evening of November 15, Russia fired 100 missiles across the territory of Ukraine, primarily at energy facilities, and in Poland, two missiles fell in the village of Przewodau, 6 km from the border with Ukraine, killing two people.

  The Polish authorities summoned the Russian ambassador for explanations.

  Then it turned out that it was probably the result of the work of the Ukrainian Air Defense Forces, which shot down a Russian missile.

• In November, with the onset of cold weather, Russia intensified its missile attacks on Ukraine's energy infrastructure.

  As a result, many Ukrainian cities and part of Moldova were left without electricity and water.

  Ukraine called an urgent meeting of the UN Security Council.

• On January 1, 2023, the Department of Strategic Communications of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reported the death of almost 400 Russians during the attack on the building of the Polytechnic School No. 19 in Makeyevka.

  Russian soldiers were there and mobilized.

  The Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation recognized 89 killed.

• Independent verification of information about military actions provided by officials of various parties is still impossible.