Russian forces press closer to key salt-mining town in eastern Ukraine

A Ukrainian soldier points at raising smoke on his position in the frontline near Soledar, Donetsk region, Ukraine, Wednesday, Jan. 11, 2023. (AP Photo/Libkos)

Russia has said its forces are edging closer to capturing a salt-mining town in eastern Ukraine, which would mark an elusive victory for the Kremlin but at the cost of heavy Russian casualties and extensive destruction of the territory.

Ukraine’s Donetsk governor Pavlo Kyrylenko said in televised remarks that more than 100 Russian troops have been killed in the battle for Soledar over the past 24 hours.

“The Russians have literally marched on the bodies of their own soldiers, burning everything on their way,” he said while reporting that Russian forces had shelled a dozen towns and villages in the region in the past day.

Smoke rises after shelling of Soledar (Libkos/AP)

Russian forces are using mortars and rockets to bombard Soledar in an unrelenting assault, battling for a breakthrough after military setbacks have turned what the Kremlin hoped would be a fast victory into a grinding war of attrition that has dragged on for nearly 11 months.

“Civilians are trying to survive amid that bloodbath as the Russians are pressing their attacks,” Mr Kyrylenko said.

Soledar’s fall would be a prize for a Kremlin starved of good battlefield news in recent months, after losing the significant city of Kherson in December.

It would also offer Russian troops a springboard to conquer other areas of the eastern Donetsk province that remain under Ukrainian control, particularly the strategic city of Bakhmut.

The Russian tactic in the assault on Soledar is to send one or two waves of soldiers, many from the private Russian military contractor Wagner Group, who take heavy casualties as they probe the defences, a Ukrainian officer near Soledar told the Associated Press.

A Ukrainian army rocket launcher fires at Russian positions (Libkos/AP)

When Ukrainian troops suffer casualties and are exhausted, the Russians send in another wave of highly trained soldiers, paratroopers or special forces, to get a new foothold on the battlefield, said the Ukrainian source.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov praised the “selfless and courageous action” of Russian troops, which he said is helping them to press forward in Soledar.

“Gigantic work has been done in Soledar,” he said.

But he stopped short of confirming a claim by Wagner Group owner Yevgeny Prigozhin, who boasted about capturing Soledar on Wednesday.

“There is still a lot to be done and it’s too early to stop and rub our hands, the main work is still ahead,” Mr Peskov said.

Ukrainian servicemen administer first aid to a wounded soldier in a shelter in Soledar (Roman Chop/AP)

Fighting is also continuing elsewhere in Ukraine.

The deputy head of Ukraine’s presidential office, Kyrylo Tymoshenko, said on Thursday that two civilians had been killed and eight wounded in Russian attacks on Wednesday.

Citing data from regional officials, Mr Tymoshenko said one civilian died and five were wounded in the southern Kherson province, where shells hit a maternity hospital, private houses and apartment buildings, while one person was killed in Donetsk.

Two people were wounded in south-eastern Zaporizhzhia province, with another civilian sustaining injuries in south-eastern Dnipropetrovsk province.