On January 12, fierce battles for the city of Soledar continue in the Donetsk region, the Russian army and the mercenaries of the "Wagner" PMC go on an assault on the dead bodies of their fighters, but the Armed Forces of Ukraine hold their positions.

The occupiers hastened to announce the capture of the city, but the Ukrainian side denied this information.

TSN.ua found out what is happening now in Soledar.

The Deputy Minister of Defense of Ukraine,

Hanna Malyar

, stated at a briefing on January 12 that in the Soledar area, the enemy is unsuccessfully trying to break through the defenses and is suffering significant losses.

Malyar noted that today the approaches to the city are actually littered with the bodies of slain Putin soldiers, and the Russians are "moving directly over the bodies of their fallen soldiers."

Serhiy Cherevaty

, the spokesman of the Eastern Group of Forces of the Ukrainian Armed Forces

, said that the Russians are trying to capture Soledari in order to advance deep into the Donetsk region.

According to him, the most prepared units of the "Wagner" PMK are fighting there.

The Russian Federation is trying with all its might to seize Soledar in order to gain at least some kind of victory "on the ground" after a series of failures: the retreat from the north of Ukraine, the escape from the Kharkiv region and Kherson.

Photo/map: American Institute for the Study of War

The occupiers "took" Soledar only in words 

The Russian occupiers have already managed to report on the capture of Soledar.

In particular, on January 10, the owner of the "Wagner" PMC

Yevhen Prigozhin

announced the capture of the settlement by his mercenaries.

However, the spokesman of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation,

Ihor Konashenkov

, denied this information on January 11, saying that Russian troops blocked Soledar from two sides and were fighting in the city itself.

On January 11, the President of Ukraine,

Volodymyr Zelenskyi

, denied information that the Russians had allegedly taken Soledar under their control. 

"Now the terrorist state and its propagandists are trying to pretend that some part of our city of Soledar - a city that was almost completely destroyed by the occupiers - is some kind of property of Russia," Zelenskyi said, adding that the fighting continues.

The US Department of Defense cannot confirm that Soledar is under the control of Russian troops.

As the head of the Pentagon

, Lloyd Austin

, stated during a press conference in Washington on January 12, Soledar is under the control of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, and dynamic battles are ongoing in the city itself.

In turn, one of the soldiers defending Soledar said that the situation in the city is "very difficult" and that "the next 24 hours will be critical."

How the Armed Forces defend the city

The Ukrainian military regularly publishes footage from the main "hot spot" on the front.

The Command of Special Operations Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine released a video of how more than 100 Russian soldiers "went to hell" in the Soledar area.

Aerial scouts of the "Birds of Magyar" group showed a video of the destruction of one of the Russian assault groups entering Soledar.

A fighter

of the "Magyar"

Armed Forces said that the situation in Soledar is extremely difficult from the point of view of the density of fire and battles.

"It is not clear how the local residents who remain in the city feel at the moment. But - no hysteria, no encirclement, no ultimatums about surrender or surrender and no fuss in the actions of the Armed Forces. Everything is consistent, everyone is doing their own thing and we are keeping the situation under control control," said "Magyar".

Satellite images of Soledar, which suffered serious destruction as a result of Russian attacks, appeared online.

Soledar on August 1.

Photo: Twitter Maxar Technologies.

Soledar, January 10.

Photo: Twitter Maxar Technologies.

What do the occupiers want?

Military expert 

Oleksandr Kovalenko

 explained that the occupiers are trying to take control of two routes in the direction of Bakhmut and create prerequisites for the encirclement of Bakhmut.

"If they do not control these two logistical arteries, there can be no threat to Bakhmut... But for now, the occupiers, being in the Bakhmutske-Soledar agglomeration, do not have control over the city and access to these routes," he said.

Military expert

Oleg Zhdanov

considers the attack on Soledar to be the result of a political struggle in the Kremlin between the founder of the "Wagner" PMC Yevgeny Prigozhin and the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation. 

"This is not so much a war, but politics. There is a competitive struggle for a place near Putin. Why Soledar? They decided that there is the weakest place in our defense. That is why they stopped active attacks on Bakhmut. They realized that they would not succeed there. That is why they decided to storm Soledar," explained Zhdanov.

According to the expert, Prigozhin wants to make his political career on this and prove that mercenaries fight better than the regular Russian army. 

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