Russia’s assault on the salt-mining city of Soledar in Ukraine’s japanese Donetsk area was persevering with regardless of earlier Russian claims that the town had been captured.

Russian forces in a single day used artillery, rockets, and plane to pummel the town, which is a northeastern suburb of the strategic metropolis of Bakhmut, which might be weak to seize if Soledar is taken.

“The fiercest and heaviest preventing is constant immediately within the space of Soledar,” Ukrainian Deputy Protection Minister Hanna Malyar mentioned on January 12.

“Regardless of the troublesome state of affairs, Ukrainian troopers are preventing doggedly,” she added.

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Satellite tv for pc imagery of Soledar launched by Maxar Applied sciences on January 11 confirmed a metropolis devastated by weeks of intense preventing.

Russia-installed occupation officers in Ukraine’s Donetsk area mentioned that “pockets of resistance” stay inside the metropolis, whereas a Russian Protection Ministry official in Moscow claimed the offensive within the Donetsk area was continuing “efficiently.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy mentioned in his every day video handle that “the Donetsk line is holding” regardless that Soledar had been “virtually fully destroyed by the invaders.”

In a separate assertion, the Common Employees of the Ukrainian Armed Forces additionally mentioned preventing continues. The assertion mentioned in an effort to deliver your complete Donetsk area below its management, the Russian navy is making an attempt each to assault close by Bakhmut and to disrupt provide routes to Soledar.

Earlier, the Kremlin-connected businessman Yevgeny Prigozhin, who heads the ostensibly personal Russian mercenary group Vagner, mentioned his forces had captured the town.

The Kremlin, nonetheless, urged warning, saying that whereas there had been a “optimistic dynamic in advances,” there must be no rush to declare victory and as a substitute anticipate “official info” on the state of affairs.

RFE/RL couldn’t independently confirm any of the assertions.

Additionally throughout the night time, the Russian navy reportedly shelled the southern metropolis of Zaporizhzhya, native Ukrainian officers reported.

The shelling, shortly after 3 a.m. native time, broken some infrastructure however no casualties have been reported, metropolis council official Anatoliy Kurtev mentioned.

In Photographs: Russian forces in Ukraine try to seize the japanese salt-mining city of Soledar in a sustained offensive that Kyiv’s Protection Ministry has described as “maniacal.”

Russian forces in Ukraine try to seize the japanese salt-mining city of Soledar in a sustained offensive that Kyiv’s Protection Ministry has described as “maniacal.” In 2019, RFE/RL’s Amos Chapple visited Soledar because the salt-mining operation hoped to crack Western markets.

Ukraine’s electrical energy supplier, Ukrenerho, reported blackouts in 9 areas throughout the nation on January 12.

Since October, Russia has been finishing up air strikes throughout Ukraine focusing on {the electrical} grid and different civilian infrastructure and inflicting disruptions in electrical energy, water, and warmth provides.

Earlier on January 11, Moscow introduced a reorganization of its navy command, inserting Chief of the Common Employees Valery Gerasimov answerable for the struggle in Ukraine, which the Kremlin calls a “particular navy operation.” Gerasimov replaces Common Sergei Surovikin, who was named Gerasimov’s deputy. Surovikin was made total commander of the struggle simply three months in the past.

In an evaluation issued on January 11, the U.S.-based Institute for the Examine of Conflict claimed Russia is affected by “munitions shortages” that “hinder the flexibility of Russian forces to maintain offensive operations.”

“Russian sources are more and more…acknowledging that Russia’s ammunition and provide shortages are decisively impeding the flexibility of Russian forces to advance,” the evaluation said.

In Moscow, a deputy within the State Duma — the decrease home of Russia’s parliament — mentioned lawmakers deliberate to lift the higher age for the navy draft to 30 years outdated in an effort to increase the variety of Russian troops by 30 %.

Andrei Kartapolov, chairman of the Duma’s Protection Committee, mentioned the decrease age restrict, which at the moment stands at 18, could be raised to 21 after a “transition interval” of 1 to a few years.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov mentioned President Vladimir Putin “conceptually supported” the concept of elevating the draft age.

With reporting by Reuters