Ukraine on Wednesday conceded that it withdrew from the small mining town of Soledar in the Donetsk Oblast almost two weeks after Russian forces said they took control of the area.
Soledar is just a few miles northeast of Bakhmut, where Russian and Ukrainian forces have been locked in heavy battles for months. Sergiy Cherevaty, a Ukrainian military spokesman, told AFP Ukrainian forces left Soledar after weeks of heavy fighting focused on the town but didn’t say when the withdrawal happened.
According to RT, the Russian Defense Ministry said it took control of the town on January 12. Two days earlier, Yevgeny Prigozhin, the head of the Russian mercenary outfit Wagner Group said his fighters captured the town, although he said fighting was still ongoing at the time.
Some of Ukraine’s Western backers have been expressing concern about the heavy casualties Ukrainian forces have been taking in the battle around Bakhmut.
Der Spiegel reported that Germany’s Federal Intelligence Service (BND) was “alarmed” by the high casualty rate and said Ukrainian forces were losing a three-digit number of soldiers every day.
A US official told Reuters that the view in Washington is that Ukraine has spent considerable resources defending Bakhmut, and it’s likely that Russian forces will capture the city.
Soledar was lost a week ago. It does not help Kiev’s credibility, such as it is, when they stubbornly refuse to acknowledge reality.
Next, Bakhmut will almost certainly fall. It is shameful to keep throwing troops into these meat grinders.
“It is shameful to keep throwing troops into these meat grinders.”
Yes, it is.Do you think the Russians are just throwing teddy bears and greeting cards, instead of troops, into them?
No, the Russians are methodically killing them. I think it is probably going to get worse.
There is a distinct wishful thinking involved in our perceptions of these battles. Listening to Ukrainian information is not heloful. Nobody can claim the knowledge of the truth. We can just hear all sides and draw conclusions.
Ukraine has for the last month been announcing sending reinforcements after reinforcements. This usually means bad news. Unless ground has been taken, reinforcements are sent to replace losses. Additional fact is — reinforcements are coming from different battalions, and there are still separate lines of communication.
These do not look good for Ukraine.
Unlike the media chatter that Bakhmut does not matter, serious sources say it does. Because apparently Bakhmut was made into a hub of Donetsk operations for Ukraine, and since 2014 has been turned into bunkers and maze of trenches. The problem apparently is — there are no good places to fall back to.
Russia now controls 2 out of three supply lines. Withbthe fall of Soledar, the third supply line is now in Russian firing range.
Dies not liok good for Ukraine. Dead Russian soldiers are not changing that. In fact, Russian regular infantry has not been used yet. All the forces so far are from Dinetsk, Lughansk, volunteer brigades and Wagner privateers. That force of about 500,000 is sitting in Belarus, to the east ofvKharkiv and in Crimea.
What scares me is the quietness if it all. It is almost as ifva broader war is expecting and tgese are prepositioned,
Perhaps we just do not see the bigger picture.
Calm before the storm
Actually, yes, in the sense described by credible observers for weeks that Russia would wait on Ukraine to deepen deployment in Bakhmut, knowing it would ultimately prove an opportunity to deplete those forces.
Zelensky is just as crooked as Putin but fools hoodwinked by the msm think otherwise. Let the two gangsters fight it amongst themselves. Azov mercenaries vs Wagner mercenaries. Sadly it’s the innocent civilians caught up in this BS. It’s all about to eventuates soon into the “unthinkable”. WW3
Russia is handing our a– to us on a platter. I would love to see an immediate cessation of this activity but I admit, it doesn’t seem likely. My main concern is the apparent possibility things could escalate…I do not want to go to war with Russia.
Tell Zelensky to take NATO missile batteries on the Russian border off the table and suddenly there will be peace.
Since this is the ONLY reason we live Ukraine so much — NATO hardware stays in Ukraine. I do not see Washington changing tune.
Ukraine will be the graveyard of toasted NATO arms and mobile units. Not counting countless lives lost.
Slow and stead wins this war. Like a methodical surgeon, Russia will slice and dice Ukraine open. The west is super desperate now, and they may even pull few low blows to make it count but it’s over. The question is wether Europe will grow a back bone and finally say no to US/UK blunder.
Ukraine Concedes Defeat