The situation at the front
In the Donetsk direction, Russian troops are trying to advance in the city of Maryinka. APU deter attacks. The armed forces of the Russian Federation again conducted offensive operations in the direction of Nevelskoye, Pervomayskoye, Vodyanoy and from the side of Experienced, reports War Gonzo. In turn, the Ukrainian army attacked Donetsk and Gorlovka.
South of Bakhmut , PMC Wagner is trying to take Kleshchievka, attacking this fortified area of the Armed Forces of Ukraine from the east, south and even southwest. The attack on Bakhmut itself comes from the side of Experienced, as well as on the eastern outskirts of the city. To the north, PMC Wagner is attacking in the direction of Yagodny and Krasnaya Gora. In this area, there is an important section of the M-03 highway and a railway junction. In the northeast, Russian troops are again trying to advance towards Disputed.
In the Lugansk direction, the Ukrainian army is shelling Kremennaya. Russian troops on the ground attacked in the Krasnopopovka area.
Soledar
The Ukrainian command claims that Soledar has not yet been surrendered. “The enemy concentrated the main attack on the Bakhmut direction, especially in the Soledar area, where the fighting is going on. Ukrainian units continue to keep the defense in the city itself and on the outskirts, ”said Serhiy Cherevaty, press attache of the Eastern Group of Ukrainian Forces, on the air of the telethon of Ukrainian channels.
“The status of Soledar is not Russian. Our units are fighting, inflicting constant losses on the enemy and trying every day to show that this city does not surrender to the enemy. Our armed forces are doing everything so that he pays an incredible price for every meter he tries to move, ”Ukrinform quoted Cherevaty as saying.
Meanwhile, pro-Russian Telegram channels are spreading messages about the capture of the station and the village of Sol by mercenaries from the PMC Wagner – this is the western outskirts of Soledar. The message is accompanied by a photo and video against the background of the station building, but there is no other reliable confirmation of this information, as well as information about how confidently the Russians control this area.
Military expert Sergei Grabsky, in a conversation with The Insider, notes that almost the entire settlement is under the control of Russian fighters, but on the outskirts of the Armed Forces of Ukraine they still hold positions.
“On the western outskirts, Ukrainian units are still holding positions. Do you know what it looks like? I would say that it looks like some kind of thorn: everything seems to be busy, but there is some part where the enemy is standing. This is an additional point of tension, which allows us to say that the deal with Soledar is almost over, but, on the other hand, this direction is active for striking. In order to dislodge the Ukrainian units from the positions they hold, the Russians are forced to throw in quite serious forces. The settlement is under the physical control of the Russian Federation, but the Ukrainian defense forces still hold their positions on the outskirts, and now they have received the opportunity for unhindered and total fire impact on the enemy. There is no risk for the Ukrainians, so Soledar of the Armed Forces of Ukraine can be fired upon without fear of striking at their own units.”
According to the American Institute for the Study of War, Russian units have completed the cleanup of Soledar and are developing an offensive in the Bakhmut direction. There is also an increased presence of troops in the Kherson region.
Russia is planning decisive strategic operations this year to turn the tide in Ukraine, according to a daily report from the Institute for the Study of War (ISW). Despite a series of setbacks and unfulfilled goals (capture of the right-bank Ukraine, destruction of critical infrastructure, retreat in Kherson and Kharkov), Russian President Vladimir Putin has not changed his maximalist plans, the report says.
The following scenarios of further actions of the Russian Federation in the war are assumed:
1. A major offensive in the Lugansk and Donetsk directions with access to the administrative borders and a deaf defense in the Kherson and Zaporozhye regions.
2. Defensive operation to defeat the counter-offensive of the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
An offensive from the north, according to this assessment, is unlikely, but Moscow will support and expand the grouping in Belarus.
Belarus
On January 16, Russia and Belarus began joint tactical flight exercises, in which aviation units of the armed forces of the two countries take part. This is stated in the message of the Ministry of Defense of Belarus. Officially, the "main goal" of the exercises is called "increasing interoperability in the joint performance of combat training tasks." The Armed Forces will practice conducting aerial reconnaissance, patrolling along the border, air support for groupings of troops, as well as landing tactical airborne troops, delivering cargo and evacuating the wounded, the Defense Ministry stressed. For the exercises, which will last until February 1, all airfields and training grounds of the Belarusian Air Force and Air Defense will be involved.
At the end of 2022, Russia began to actively transfer tanks, equipment and personnel from Belarusian training grounds closer to the border with Ukraine, Belorussky Gayun reported . Lukashenka also instructed to conduct an unscheduled check of the combat readiness of the Armed Forces of the Republic.
Dnieper
The number of victims of a strike on a residential building in Dnipro increased to 40, including three children. Earlier it was reported that 39 people were rescued, 75 were injured, among them 14 were children. The fate of 30 more residents of the house is unknown. The search for people under the rubble continues.
Telegram channels publish videos allegedly of the moment a rocket hit a high-rise building in Dnipro.
The Armed Forces of Ukraine reported that a Kh-22 missile, which was fired from a Tu-22M3 bomber from the Kursk region, hit a residential building.
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky recorded a short video message to the Russians after a rocket attack on a residential building in the Dnieper. The Ukrainian leader appealed to those who, even after this event, did not say "a few words of condemnation of this terror."
“Your cowardly silence, an attempt to wait out what is happening, will end up with the fact that one day these same terrorists will come for you,” Zelensky said. “Evil is very sensitive to cowardice, evil always remembers those who are afraid of it and try to bargain. And when it comes for you, there will be no one to protect you.”
Russia denies any involvement in the attack on a residential building in the Dnieper. On January 15, the Russian Ministry of Defense, in its daily report on the progress of the so-called "special military operation on the territory of Ukraine," said that during a massive strike on January 14, Russian troops hit the Ukrainian military command and control system and related energy facilities.
“All designated targets have been hit. The goal of the strike has been achieved,” said Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov.
On the day of the strike, the Russian state media RIA Novosti and TASS did not publish any news that the Russian Federation had hit a residential building in Dnipro with a rocket, there was not even a mention of the destruction of part of the house.
Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said at a briefing on January 16 that the Russian armed forces are not attacking residential buildings, but "on military targets, obvious or disguised." “You yourself saw the conclusion of some representatives of the Ukrainian side, which said that this tragedy was the result of a counter-missile and air defense,” said Dmitry Peskov.
Thus, Peskov blamed the Ukrainian air defense for the attack on the house in the Dnieper, referring to the statement of the adviser to the office of the Ukrainian president Oleksiy Arestovich, who on January 14 said that the missile over the Dnieper was shot down by the Ukrainian air defense system, after which it fell on a residential building. He expressed this version during a stream on Mark Feigin's YouTube channel. The Air Force of the Armed Forces of Ukraine said that they had never shot down an X-22 during the Russian invasion.
Arms deliveries
The UK will be the first European country to donate modern Western main battle tanks to Ukraine. This was announced by British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace. He announced a new military aid package for Ukraine, which will include:
▪️ Company of Challenger 2 tanks;
▪️ 8 AS90 self-propelled artillery mounts (the remaining 22 are after repair);
▪️ Armored vehicles;
▪️ BTR Bulldog;
▪️ Dozens of drones;
▪️ 100,000 artillery shells;
▪️ 100 advanced rockets;
▪️ Spare parts for tanks and armored vehicles.
Slovak Defense Minister Yaroslav Nagy announced that Slovakia had transferred to Ukraine the eighth 155 mm Zuzana 2 self-propelled howitzer of a new production under a contract concluded in early June for the supply of eight Zuzana 2 to Ukraine, from among those originally ordered for the Slovak army. The first four self-propelled guns were handed over to the Armed Forces in mid-August, two in early October and one in November.
From January to November 2022, Western partners transferred more than 4,000 weapons to Kyiv, including aircraft, tanks and artillery. It is reported by Bloomberg.
Almost all types of weapons were transferred to the Ukrainian army, except for long-range missiles of the ATACMS type. Ukraine received from the allies: 410 tanks, about 300 infantry fighting vehicles, about 1,100 armored personnel carriers, 925 MCIs, 1,540 armored vehicles, about 300 towed howitzers and more than 400 self-propelled guns, 18 aircraft (excluding Slovak MiGs), 34 helicopters, at least 415 reconnaissance drones.
Read also the military summary of The Insider for January 13: “The Ministry of Defense announces the capture of Soledar and pays tribute to Wagner PMC, Ukraine insists that the city has not been taken. What's happening on the front lines ."