Fierce fighting in eastern Ukraine | War in Ukraine

Everything that happens today in the direction of Bagmouth or Soledar is a bloody spectacle of this battle.Adviser to the Ukrainian president told AFP Mykhaïlo Podoliak in an interview.

Fights Continue In Soledar, before is caughtUkrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in the evening. We are doing everything to strengthen Ukrainian security without a single day’s break In the eastern Donetsk region, he said.

According to Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister Khanna Maliar, there are Russians without success Search Absolutely The mining town of 10,000 residents is located near the larger town of Bagmouth, which the Ukrainians have been relentlessly defending for months.

After several humiliating setbacks since September, the Russian mercenary group Wagner Group, which claimed responsibility for the capture, was denied not only by the Ukrainian army, but by the Russian army as well.

Attack forces are fighting in the cityFor its part, the Russian Ministry of Defense pledged, noted Airborne units besieged the northern and southern flanks By Soledar.

The Kremlin is cautious

You don’t have to rush. Wait for the official statementsDmitry Peskov, a spokesman for the Russian president, told reporters that he believed there was at the same time. A positive dynamic In the ranks of the Russian troops.

No one planned to give the city awayemphasized Shaking, a wounded Ukrainian soldier, was met by AFP on Wednesday on the road connecting Bagmouth with Sloviansk. Sun light Not fully taken By the Russians, he said.

According to Mykhaïlo Podoliak, there are Russian military losses The biggest And The Ukrainian army is also losing men. Of course, this is more than anywhere beforehe told AFP.

In the Lugansk region, near Donetsk, there are Russians gathered About 30,000 soldiers, its Ukrainian governor, Serhii Keidai, also said.

One of the bloodiest episodes of the war in Urkine is now taking place around the eastern city of Soledar. Story by Lise Villeneuve.

Photo: Reuters/CLODAGH KILCOYNE

2 missile strikes and 22 air strikes

All over Ukraine, During the day the enemy launched 2 missile attacks and 22 air attacksUkrainian Ministry of Defense in brief.

In the southern city of Kherson, there have been shelling Multiple explosions, the state university and a perinatal center were damaged, provincial governor Yaroslav Yanushevich lamented. An employee working in the maternity ward was also seriously injured, according to the Office of the President of Ukraine.

A little further north, in Marhanets, nine apartment buildings were damaged by Russian strikes, while one person was injured by shrapnel, local officials said.

At the same time, in Moscow, in a new shift at the top of the military hierarchy, the last chapters were seen as dictated by the great disappointments on the ground, it was the head of the defense forces, General Valery Kurasimov. – Vladimir Putin’s direct interlocutor – was appointed Commander of the Combined Forces Group Stopped in Ukraine.

Raising the level of special operations command [en Ukraine] In addition to broadening the scope of tasks to be undertaken, it is linked to the need for closer interaction between the elements of the armed forces.Ministry of Defense explained.

Valery Kurassimo’s predecessor, General Sergei Churovikhin – who had been demoted to the rank of lieutenant – directed operations for only three months.

He was appointed in October to repair the situation in the Russian army, which had suffered setbacks in the face of Ukrainian offensives in the Kharkiv (northeast) and Kherson regions.

He was attributed the tactic of massive strikes on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, which did not sway Q.

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Fierce fighting has been raging around the city of Soledar in eastern Ukraine for days. During the 11-month conflict, soldiers on both sides suffered heavy casualties.

Photo: Associated Press/Lipkos

kyiv in search of heavy weapons

At the same time, Ukraine reiterated its request to its Western partners to provide heavy and long-range weapons ahead of a new meeting on January 20 at the US base in Ramstein, Germany.

Only missiles with a range of more than 100 kilometers will allow to significantly accelerate the liberation of territories.Mykhaïlo Podoliak promised in his statements to AFP that it would not be used against Russian territory.

We still want to get 250-350 heavy tanksHe repeated.

Western chancelleries have been slow to respond positively to Kyiv’s demands at this point and Paris, London, Berlin and Washington have only promised tanks and other light armored vehicles at this point.

But Poland took the first step on Wednesday, saying it was ready to supply 2 heavy tanks, or 14 units, to a company from the German Leopard.

This distribution will be done As part of a coalition in the process of buildingAndrzej Duda, its leader, underlined in Lviv, western Ukraine.

A government alone cannot help us because we are fighting against thousands of Russian tanksMr. Zelensky replied.

Finally, on the diplomatic front, a rare meeting between Russian and Ukrainian officials took place on Tuesday in Turkey between two warring human rights officials, Dmytro Lubinets and Tatiana Moskalkova.