According to Russian information, the Wagner boss announced on Tuesday that Soledar had been conquered. A group of Ukrainian soldiers was still surrounded in the center of the village. The information could not be independently verified. There was initially no comment from the Ukrainian side.
But the British Ministry of Defense had previously announced that the Russian army and Wagner Group mercenaries were now likely to have most of Soledar under control after the raids of the past four days. The city with a population of 10,000 in the industrial region of Donbas is only a few kilometers away from Bakhmut.
Russia’s attack on Soledar is most likely an attempt to encircle Bakhmut from the north and cut off Ukrainian lines of communication, the UK MoD said in its daily intelligence briefing.
Huge tunnel system
Fighting in Soledar has focused on approaches to abandoned salt mines that run beneath the area and total some 200 kilometers in length. “Both sides are likely concerned that they could be used to advance behind their lines,” it said.
It was precisely with this tunnel system that Wagner boss Prigozhin recently justified the offensive in the region that has been ongoing since the beginning of August of the previous year: “The icing on the cake is the mine system of Soledar and Bakhmut, which is actually a network of underground cities,” Prigozhin wrote on Telegram.
USA: More economic interests
“Not only can it accommodate a large group of people at a depth of 80 to 100 meters, but tanks and armored personnel carriers can also move in it.” He also claimed that weapons had been stored in the tunnels since World War I. The view is rather doubted. The disused tunnels of the salt mine used to be a destination for excursions, concerts were even held in an underground hall, the Luhansk Academic Symphony Orchestra played there under the Austrian conductor Kurt Schmid.
US officials said Prigozhin wanted to take control of the region’s salt and gypsum mines for commercial reasons. The Wagner group had already been accused of linking military and economic interests in other regions, such as Africa.
Wagner boss puts troops in the spotlight
Already on Monday, Prigozhin emphasized that “only” units of his Wagner group would gain ground in Soledar. The US think tank Institute for the Study of War suspects that Prigozhin is using the reports of success – whether they are confirmed or just fabricated – to promote his group as the only Russian force in Ukraine capable of tangible successes to achieve. If this thesis is correct, it would also mean that the Wagner troops play their own game within the Russian army.
Success is primarily symbolic
The Russian military leadership, in turn, could use the capture of Bakhmut, if and whenever it succeeds, as the first military success in a long time for propaganda purposes. And it would be at least a small step closer to bringing the entire Donetsk Oblast under Russian control. But there is still the conurbation between Slowjansk and Kramatorsk, which will certainly be defended even more doggedly by the Ukrainian army.
Apart from a symbolic and psychological success, Bakhmut is only of minor strategic importance for the further course of the war, according to international military experts. Even some Russian military bloggers have criticized the fact that it is incomprehensible why top-flight troops would be used in a battle of attrition that was a sideshow to the war as a whole.
ORF Analysis: Battle for Donetsk
ORF correspondent Christian Wehrschütz reports from Ukraine. He reports on the situation in Donzek, where the fighting is particularly concentrated on Bakhmut and Soledar.
Huge losses
In any case, the losses seem to be enormous on both sides. Prigozhin spoke of “heavy, bloody battles” in the battle for Soledar. The Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyj also described the situation in Soledar as extremely tense. “It’s very difficult: There are hardly any intact walls left there,” said Zelenskyj in his video message on Tuesday night.
“Thanks to the resilience of our soldiers in Soledar, we gained additional time and received forces for Ukraine,” Zelenskyy said before the Wagner Group’s report. The head of state added: “Everything is completely destroyed (…) the ground in Soledar is covered with the bodies of the attackers and marked by the explosions.”
Battle for Bachmut continues
The situation in Bachmut is also described as spooky: of the former 70,000 inhabitants, all who could have fled. Most of the city’s buildings are completely destroyed. However, the artillery attacks eased slightly in December, according to the Ukrainian side. The “Kyiv Independent” speculates that Russia has problems with the supply of ammunition – a problem that also arises for Ukraine.
By capturing Soledar, Russia will probably try to encircle Bakhmut. How long it takes to bring the city fully under Moscow’s control will then depend on the Ukrainian defenders. If you rely on a house fight, these skirmishes could last for weeks. However, the supply lines of the Ukrainians could easily be interrupted, a retreat would then probably be the safer option.
