Battle for Soledar: why Russians are storming suburbs of Bakhmut

Already in the first days of 2023, Soledar became the scene of the fiercest battles on the eastern front. The main value of the town is its strategic location and network of underground tunnels.

On the night of January 11, the press service of the owner of the PMC Wagner Yevgeny Prigozhin reported that allegedly the entire territory of Soledar is already under the control of their fighters. However, the Armed Forces denied this information.

hromadske analyzed what is happening in this area.

The industrial town of Soledar is located 18 kilometers from Bakhmut. Before the war, salt was mined here from the Artemivsk deposit. After the outbreak of the full-scale war, the Artemsil enterprise stopped working due to shelling. Local residents began to leave, and the town was directly on the front line.

The situation became critically difficult on the eve of the New Year. On January 4, the Commander of the Ground Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Oleksandr Syrskyi stated that the Ukrainian military foiled the enemy's plans to capture Soledar in December.

After the failed attempt, the Russians regrouped, recovered their losses and began to actively attack again, changing their tactics, said Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Malyar.

"The enemy engaged a large number of assault groups. They massively use artillery, multiple rocket launchers and mortars, blasting even their own fighters with fire," she said on December 9.

The success of the tactical offensive of the Russian military and militants from the Wagner Group has been reported by the British military intelligence in recent days. According to them, the Russians now probably control most of the city.

Analysts believe that the occupiers seek to completely capture Soledar in order to surround Bakhmut from the north and disrupt Ukrainian logistics in the area.

"The enemy is constantly suffering heavy losses. The main striking force is the best units of Wagner. And they are focused on powerful attacks there. I can't disclose any details, because the operation is still ongoing," the spokesman for the Eastern Group of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Serhiy Cherevatyi told hromadske.

He stresses that Soledar has become the main target for the enemy on the eastern front. This is evidenced by the high intensity of fighting and a significant number of attacks on Soledar and its surroundings – 86 per day.

Meanwhile, pro-Russian Telegram channels are already distributing videos showing militants from the Wagner PMC allegedly entrenched in the center of Soledar.

Cut the logistics

As part of the offensive, the Russians also attacked the village of Krasna Hora, located between Soledar and Bakhmut. Russian Telegram channels assured that the settlement had been captured. However, this information was not confirmed.

Nevertheless, thanks to the attacks, the Russians have established partial fire control of the rocky roads, writes Austrian military analyst Tom Cooper in his blog. He notes that now the occupiers will be able to shoot at targets moving on the road T0513, which connects Bakhmut with Siversk. The M03 highway connecting Bakhmut with Slovyansk is also under the enemy's fire control.

However, this does not mean that Bakhmut is surrounded. The Armed Forces of Ukraine still control the road Bakhmut - Kostyantynivka.

"The route from Slovyansk through Kramatorsk, Druzhkivka and Kostyantynivka is longer than the direct route from Slovyansk to Bakhmut. Therefore it will be more difficult to evacuate the wounded. It will take longer to evacuate them from the Bakhmut area," said Cooper.

The key importance of Soledar for the enemy is control over Ukrainian logistics, emphasizes military expert Dmytro Snehyryov.

Attempt to surround Bakhmut

Along with the attack on Soledar there is a simultaneous offensive in the area of Klishchiyivka – a village south of Bakhmut. If the enemy manages to capture it, they will establish fire control over the last road: Bakhmut - Kostiantynivka.

"They have changed their tactics. They switched from direct assaults on Bakhmut to flanking tactics. The situation is the same as it was in Severodonetsk and Lysychansk. When the enemy took control of the roads around these cities, the Ukrainian Armed Forces were forced to retreat, as they simply could not supply themselves with ammunition," said Snehyryov.

Thus, the occupiers are trying to take Bakhmut in a vise. However, even if all the asphalt roads are under the enemy’s fire control, the town will not remain completely cut off from supplies.

"The soil in this area is freezing, so it will be possible to use dirt roads," Snehyryov said.

British military intelligence suggested in a report that the fighting could be over access to the idle Soledar salt mines, which stretch 200 kilometers underground in the region. According to analysts, they can be used to penetrate the enemy's rear.