Ukrainian servicemen fire a mortar toward Russian positions, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, on a frontline near Soledar
(Picture: via REUTERS)Ukrainian forces have withdrawn from the salt mine town of Soledar in eastern Ukraine, British defence chiefs said on Wednesday.
They stressed the retreat meant one of their main supply routes into the nearby city of Bakhmut in the Donetsk province was now “under increasing pressure”.
Vladimir Putin’s “private army”, the Wagner Group, and the regular Russian military, have launched an onslaught on Soledar, which has a 200km (124 mile) long mine complex, to seize the town.
They are believed to be vying for supremacy in the Russian military chain of command in the battle for Soledar.
The mine complex could be used to hide weapons from air strikes.
In its latest intelligence update, the Ministry of Defence in London said: “ By the end of 16 January 2023, Ukrainian forces had highly likely withdrawn from the Donbas town of Soledar, leaving Russian military and Wagner Group proxy forces in control. Ukrainian forces have likely established new defensive lines to the west.
“Russia’s advance on Soledar primarily consisted of Wagner forces and was a supporting operation aimed to enable the eventual envelopment of the larger settlement of Bakhmut.
“One of Ukraine’s two main supply routes into Bakhmut is now under increasing pressure.”
The briefing added: “Imagery shows that since the start of January 2023, the south and east of Bakhmut has continued to be subjected to intense artillery bombardment. Ukrainian forces almost certainly continue to defend against Russian forces on the outskirts of the city.”
The General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces said on Wednesday the two sides had exchanged fire on the eastern frontline, where neither has advanced much in recent months.
Over the past 24 hours, Russian forces pounded the Luhansk and Donetsk regions, where nearly 30 settlements were shelled, including Soledar and Bakhmut as well as the village of Klishchiivka, the military's report said.
Ukrainian forces repelled attacks in Bakhmut and the village of Klishchiivka just south of it in Donetsk, it added.
Russia claimed days ago to have captured Soledar, a focal point of recent fighting, but Kyiv said its forces were still fighting there.
"The situation is complicated. Fighting is still going on in the streets of Soledar and Ukrainian forces are fighting hard. Part of the town in occupied," Petro Kuzyk, commander of the "Freedom" battalion of the Ukrainian National Guard, was quoted as saying by the Espreso TV news website.
Ukrainian military analyst Oleh Zhdanov said in a YouTube video that eyewitnesses had noted Russian soldiers at the railway station in the town of Sil - just north of Soledar.
In the central Ukrainian city of Dnipro, the civilian death toll from a missile that struck an apartment block on Saturday rose to 45, including six children, among them an 11-month-old boy, Volodymyr Zelensky said in his nightly video address.
Ukrainian authorities called off the search for survivors on Tuesday.
Mr Zelensky was due to address the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on Wednesday, as Kyiv calls for more advanced weapons from the west.
Britain is set to supply Challenger II tanks, Poland is due to send some German-built Leopard tanks, with other allies considering similar moves.
As Kyiv also calls for military aircraft, Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis told Playbook: “I think that Ukrainians could learn to use Western fighter jets.”
Putin was due to visit St Petersburg on Wednesday, the 80th anniversary of the day Soviet forces managed to open a narrow land corridor to the city - then known as Leningrad - and break a Nazi blockade that had lasted since September 1941.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told a domestic news agency that there was no truth to rumours Putin would announce changes to the war effort such as a general mobilisation.
