Commentary by Russian military blogger Rybar
[ColonelCassad] The first big report from the liberated Soledar. The enemy is not found in the city.
It is also worth noting that the enemy tried to counterattack today and return to Soledar, but he did not succeed with this.
On the counteroffensive of the Armed Forces of Ukraine on Soledar
On @rt_russian they write that the combined units of the 46th and 77th airmobile brigades of the Armed Forces of Ukraine from Paraskovievka tried unsuccessfully to counterattack the positions of the RF Armed Forces and break through the encirclement in the vicinity of Soledar.
Enemy detachments on French VAB armored personnel carriers and British Wolfhound armored personnel carriers tried to strike at the advancing orders of Russian troops. However, they were detected and destroyed by Russian Aerospace Forces aircraft via laser designator from the ground.
During the sortie, the losses of Ukrainian formations amounted to about 200 people, the survivors fled from their positions. The airmobile forces operated without fire support due to the incapacitation of most enemy artillery systems in the Soledar area.
Why are the Armed Forces of Ukraine conducting sorties that are doomed to failure?
Soledar for the Armed Forces of Ukraine is an important node in the still existing line of defense of Chasov Yar - Bakhmut - Soledar - Seversk. Its fall endangers a significant contingent in the vicinity of Seversk, as the defense is complicated by the location: the settlement is located in a lowland.
In the event of the final loss of Soledar and the nearby villages of Blagodatnoye, Razdolovka, Vyemka and Veseloye, Ukrainian formations will have to leave Seversk and other strongholds due to the threat of possible encirclement.
Together with the liberation of the Bakhmut agglomeration, the potential loss of Seversk will cause significant damage to the image of the Ukrainian army, the image of which has been built over the past six months.
An attempt to counterattack without regard for losses is a desire to rectify the catastrophic situation of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in this area. And it is not at all excluded that such actions will be repeated until the final cleansing of Soledar by Russian troops.
Now in Minkovka, an advanced command post of the consolidated group of troops of the Armed Forces of Ukraine has been organized. The arrival of 500 members of the territorial defense from the Sumy region is expected to the combat area, which are planned to be used to storm the Russian positions.
However, the effectiveness of such actions is a big question, given the fire control of the RF Armed Forces over the main routes in the area and the lack of tactical commanders of the Ukrainian formations: a significant part were killed or captured, the rest fled to Seversk.
And the encirclement of Bakhmut from the north, south and east leaves the Armed Forces of Ukraine fewer chances and time to rectify the situation.
More from regnum.ru
Artyomovsk was taken into operational encirclement by Russian troops
[REGNUM] In the DPR, Russian troops took the city of Artyomovsk into an operational encirclement
The city of Artyomovsk in the Donetsk People's Republic was taken into operational encirclement by Russian troops. This was announced on January 12 by the adviser to the acting head of the DPR, Igor Kimakovsky , on the air of Channel One.
As Kimakovsky clarified, the city of Artyomovsk is in an operational environment, it is covered from both sides by the emerging "serious fists" of the Russian Armed Forces.
Also, the adviser to the acting head of the DPR noted that Russian artillery is already firing heavily around almost the entire territory of the city of Artyomovsk.
Earlier , REGNUM reported that Kimakovsky, adviser to the acting head of the DPR, announced a serious advance of Russian troops in the Artyomovsk region.
In addition, adviser to the acting head of the DPR , Yan Gagin , noted that after the liberation of Soledar in the DPR, units of the Russian Armed Forces will begin to build up forces to develop military success. Gagin also explained the key importance of the capture of Soledar and Artemovsk for the liberation of Kramatorsk and further advance towards Slavyansk.