Moscow has launched an unrelenting assault on this small town of cavernous salt mines fighting for a major but quick military victory
By Athena Papakosta
Russia is moving ever closer to capturing the small town of Solendar in eastern Ukraine after days of heavy fighting. “More than 100 Russian soldiers have been killed in the last 24 hours,” announced the Ukrainian governor in Donetsk, Pavlo Kirilenko, adding that “the Russians are advancing on the corpses of their own soldiers, burning everything in their path.”
Moscow has launched an unrelenting attack on this small town with its cavernous salt mines fighting for a significant but quick military victory after its defeats and retreats in this war of attrition that it launched eleven months ago in Ukraine.
If he manages to “take” the city of Solentar then, indeed, he will have a symbolic prize to present inside since, as analysts have noted, the Kremlin is “starving” for some good news from the battlefield, especially since it lost in Kherson last fall. The capture of Solentar is also of increased military importance for the Russians as it will allow them to advance to other areas in Donetsk and notably the city of Bakhmut which remains under Ukrainian control and is about 10 kilometers to the southwest.
In the operation for the city of Solentar, the Russians have the help of the mercenaries of the Wagner group, which is under the command of the close ally of the Russian president, Yevgeny Prigozhin. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov praised their “selfless and courageous action” that allows the Russian armed forces to advance further. Of course, the Russian side has just proceeded with the sudden rearrangement of persons in the leadership of the Russian armed forces.
After just three months in charge, General Sergei Surovikin, or General Armageddon – as he is also known – has moved from number one commander of Russian forces in Ukraine to second in command, with Valery Gerasimov, the chief of the army’s general staff, to is taking over the reins of the “special military operation” as Moscow has dubbed its invasion of Ukraine.
During the short time that Surovikin was commander of the Russian forces he strengthened the coordination of the Russian forces and launched a war against Russia’s energy infrastructure. However, he was humiliated by abandoning Kherson, the only regional Ukrainian capital that the Russians had held since almost the beginning of the war in the country. Meanwhile, Gerasimov, for many the architect of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, has been criticized for many of the problems of the (non)advance of the Russian military in Ukraine. In fact, the British Ministry of Defense noted that Russian military bloggers might not welcome the news. What is certain is that Moscow realizes the seriousness of the situation it is facing as it falls short of the initial strategic goals of its “special military operation”.
For their part, the Ukrainians reported that the Russian strikes are coming in waves in the city of Solentar, further depleting the Ukrainian armed forces. Analysts are talking about a bloodbath and Reuters wrote yesterday, Thursday, of a battlefield “strewn with corpses”.
But Kiev denies that Russian forces have surrounded Solentar. On the contrary, in the latest official update from the general staff of the army of Ukraine it was reported that in the last 24 hours they killed 100 Russian soldiers stressing that the fighting is in full swing. In addition, on Thursday night the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelensky, after a meeting with his staff, wrote on Facebook that he promises to provide everything necessary for the soldiers who are resisting in both the city of Soletar and Bakhmut to be supplied ” with ammunition and all the necessities in a quick and uninterrupted manner”. But while the fate of this now flattened city is decided in bloody battles, 559 civilians and 15 children remain trapped at the site who at the moment cannot be removed.
The Ukrainians are hoping for the new weapons (heavy armor) they will receive from their Western allies. They have already been resisting for months in the neighboring Bahmut which is a bigger city than Soledar and the Russians have not been able to understand all this time. But, now, everything is judged in this small town. Even the future of Bahamut. The complete capture of Solentar would help the Russians’ plans to advance and conquer the whole of Donbas.
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With a wealth of experience honed over 4+ years in journalism, I bring a seasoned voice to the world of news. Currently, I work as a freelance writer and editor, always seeking new opportunities to tell compelling stories in the field of world news.
