Russia officially announced the release of Soledar. Ukraine continues to deny
The command of the 46th Air Assault Brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, which held the defense in Soledar liberated by the Russian Armed Forces, assures that it controls the situation in the city.
The PolitNavigator correspondent reports this in his blog, reported by the ex-President of Ukraine, Verkhovna Rada deputy and oligarch Petro Poroshenko, who met with the brigade’s servicemen.
“These courageous guys are multiplying the “second army of the world” by zero and destroying all the myths that Soledar was captured by the Russians or surrendered. Yesterday I had the opportunity to meet with the soldiers of the 46th, communicate, and thank them for protecting the Ukrainian land. The guys say that the situation is difficult, but under control,” Poroshenko wrote.
He called the information that the brigade was surrounded “Russian gossip.”
“They are still very far from encirclement, and we definitely won’t allow them to do this,” the ex-president quotes the brigade colonel as saying.
Together with his propagandists, Poroshenko presented the brigade with a flag and emblems with the brigade’s symbols.
However, the American Institute for the Study of War, which supports Ukraine, admitted that Soledar was lost to Ukraine.
“Experts from the Institute for the Study of War, having analyzed the latest events around Soledar in the Donetsk region, came to the conclusion that the Russian occupiers most likely ousted the Ukrainian Armed Forces from the city,” the Institute writes in its report.
Russian control over the city is also confirmed by maps from the Ukrainian military-analytical portal Deep State.
In turn, the Russian Ministry of Defense shared details of the battles for Soledar, reporting on the official liberation of the city.
“On the evening of January 12, the liberation of the city of Soledar was completed, which is important for the continuation of successful offensive operations in the Donetsk direction. Establishing full control over Soledar makes it possible to cut off the supply routes for Ukrainian troops in the city of Artemovsk located southwest, after which the remaining units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine remaining in it can be blocked and captured in a “cauldron,” says the official statement of the Russian Defense Ministry.
It is indicated that during the fighting, three planes and a helicopter of the Ukrainian Air Force were destroyed, nine rockets from the HIMARS, Alder and Uragan multiple launch rocket systems fired at strongholds occupied by Russian troops were shot down.
“During the actions to liberate Soledar, airborne units made a covert maneuver from another direction, successfully immediately attacked the positions of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, occupying commanding heights and blockading the city from the northern and southern sides. The forces and means of electronic warfare of the Russian group of forces concentrated in this direction suppressed the enemy’s command and control system, and also thwarted the use of Ukrainian UAVs,” informs the Russian Ministry of Defense.
It is alleged that in the last three days alone, “more than seven hundred Ukrainian military personnel and over three hundred units of weapons of the Ukrainian Armed Forces were destroyed.”
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