The situation around Bakhmut, where the most fierce fighting took place, has changed over the past week, according to the War Mapper portal, publishing a map. According to analysts, the Russian army finally captured Soledar and the village of Sol, entered new areas in the northeast of Bakhmut, and also took control of industrial buildings in the southeast. The pro-Russian Telegram channel “Rybar” also claims that on January 16, the Wagner PMC occupied the village of Sol, cutting off supplies between Bakhmut and Seversk and opening a bridgehead to the exit to the Seversk agglomeration. The main battles are taking place in the area of the key site – Kleshchievka, located south of Bakhmut, writes an analyst for Def Mon.
The Ukrainian side did not report the loss of Soledar. As military expert Sergei Grabsky told The Insider, from a military point of view, it made sense to move away from Soledar earlier, since protracted street fighting is painful for all sides. According to him, in the confrontation of infantry units, when positions change two or three times a day, the losses on both sides are quite large, and it is difficult to talk about anyone's advantage. At the same time, Russia is now actually bogged down, Grabsky believes.
According to Grabsky, to date, nowhere, except for the Lugansk region, there is an intensive accumulation of Russian combat units that can be used as a strike force. At the same time, Soledar was given "inadequate attention" from a military point of view, which played a positive role for Ukraine, he believes. Which one, the expert did not specify, but he cited the battles for Maryinka as an example.
“In the case of Soledar, we see media promotion of a separate case. Why? Look at Marinka. Who spoke about her at least half of everything that was said about Soledar? Nobody! And Maryinka, in my opinion, is an even more important element of the confrontation. There was an even tougher fight going on. We do not fully assess the effectiveness of this struggle for Maryinka, and what significance it has for that sector of the front. Marinka without the context of Ugledar cannot be considered.
Well, they took Soledar, so what? Never mind. For 10 months in the Soledar region, the enemy traveled as much as 40 kilometers from the border, and nothing at all in Maryinka. She stood as she stands, and this despite the fact that Maryinka is an extremely important center of resistance, because it covers the direction to Kurakhovo, and there is a thermal power plant. In addition, from Ugledar it is possible to fire at the Volnovakha-Rozovka railway line and further towards Melitopol. From Vugledar, using long-range means of influence, it is possible to actually deliver pinpoint strikes on objects in the Mariupol region and keep the directions leading towards Melitopol under certain fire, thus reducing the possibilities of logistical support for the entire southern enemy grouping.
According to the Rybar Telegram channel, now the remaining Ukrainian formations have withdrawn from the village of Sol to new positions. The report also says that a company of an unidentified unit of the Armed Forces of Ukraine was transferred from Novoselidovka to the vicinity of Krasnopolye.
Russia continues its offensive in the direction of the strongholds of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in Blagodatnoe, Krasnopolye, Razdolovka, Veseloy, as well as in Paraskovievka and Krasnaya Gora north of Bakhmut, Rybar notes. At the same time, according to him, in Bakhmut itself, intense battles are taking place in urban areas.
“To hold the garrison, the Armed Forces of Ukraine sent one of the formations from the Limansky section near Bakhmut. In addition, personnel reinforced with armored vehicles arrived from Druzhkovka to Chasov Yar. Forces of the 63rd Specialized Brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine were transferred to Bakhmut to strengthen the defense on the southern outskirts. At the same time, movement inside the city is complicated by constant fire from Russian troops and a shortage of armored vehicles.”
The Ukrainian command the day before claimed that Soledar had not yet been surrendered, the press attaché of the Eastern Group of Ukrainian Forces, Serhiy Cherevaty, said the day before that Russia had concentrated forces in the Bakhmut direction, but the Armed Forces of Ukraine were holding the line.
A wave of prohibitions from the new commander
Meanwhile, the new commander of the Joint Group of Russian Forces in Ukraine, General Valery Gerasimov, is issuing new orders, writing propaganda Z-publics and military correspondents. According to them, the command actually banned the use of modern technology, including smartphones and tablets, which makes it impossible to use drones for artillery and reconnaissance. Information appeared , including in the channels "Unofficial Bezsonov "Z"" and "Turned on the Z war." Also, the servicemen were banned from using personal cars and demanded to give them to the Ministry of Defense. According to the Two Majors channel covering the "special operation", the use of personal equipment is due to the fact that the standard equipment is out of order, and there are no spare parts for its repair. The channel also links the "wave of orders" with the appointment of Gerasimov.
At the same time, the Russian military was required to shave off their beards, shave regularly and wear a uniform according to the charter, writes Unofficial Bezsonov Z. The head of the so – called DNR Denis Pushilin refutes this information .
Those killed in a blow to a house in the Dnieper
In Dnipro, they completed the removal of the rubble of a residential building destroyed as a result of a Russian missile strike.
The death toll has risen to 45, including six children, said head of the Dnepropetrovsk Regional Military Administration (OVA) Valentin Reznichenko. He published a photo in which the townspeople and authorities lay flowers.
The Armed Forces of Ukraine reported that a Kh-22 missile, which was fired from a Tu-22M3 bomber, presumably from Kursk, hit the house. Russia denies involvement in the strike, the Ministry of Defense said on January 14 that the troops hit the "military command and control system of Ukraine" and related energy facilities. On the day of the strike, RIA Novosti and TASS did not publish any information that the Russian Federation had hit a residential building in Dnipro with a rocket. Press Secretary of the President of Russia Dmitry Peskov said two days after the tragedy that the Russian Armed Forces were not striking at residential buildings, but "at military targets, obvious or disguised."
Alexey Arestovich, a freelance adviser to Zelensky’s office, who suggested on January 14 that a Ukrainian air defense system shot down a missile over the Dnieper, has resigned . After his statement in the Air Force, the Armed Forces of Ukraine claimed that they had never shot down an X-22 during the Russian invasion.
Names of 11,662 dead Russian soldiers confirmed
By January 17, 11,662 Russian servicemen had died in the war in Ukraine, Mediazona, together with the BBC and a team of volunteers, keeps the statistics by name. The list already includes more than 1600 officers, 644 mobilized and about 300 recruited prisoners.
In 16 days, 942 new names appeared on the list, which is a record for the entire time of the war. Of these, 49 families were killed in Makiivka during the strike on the night of January 1. Officially, the Ministry of Defense recognized the death of 89 people, but refused to publish a list of names, journalists found 49 of them. According to investigators, the sharp increase in deaths from the Krasnodar Territory is explained by the fact that volunteers counted the names in the cemetery in the village of Bakinskaya, where mercenaries from the Wagner PMC are buried. However, most of those buried on it may be from other regions.
The day before, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reported that the total combat losses of Russia since February 24 were approximately 116,080 people. The Armed Forces of Ukraine also provided data on the loss of equipment, according to which the Russian Federation lost 3118 tanks, 6204 armored combat vehicles, 2099 artillery systems, 286 aircraft, 276 helicopters, 1872 UAVs. 749 missiles and other military equipment.
Shelling of the Belgorod region
As a result of the shelling on January 16 of the Shebekino checkpoint in the Belgorod region, five conscripts were killed, two more conscripts were injured, the Astra Telegram channel reports. According to the channel's sources, the dead and wounded are soldiers of military unit 31135. The checkpoint itself was also damaged.
The governor of the Belgorod region, Vyacheslav Gladkov, did not report on the shelling on January 16, as well as on the death of soldiers. On the morning of January 17, he stated that an air defense system had worked over Belgorod and the Belgorod region, and a village in the Valuysky urban district had also come under fire.
“There is one victim. The wound is of minor severity, medical assistance is already being rendered. Shell fragments shattered windows in private households, one car was damaged. The house bypass of the territory continues.
In addition, the publication Astra provides details about another incident in the region. Dmitry L., 27, mobilized from the Sverdlovsk region, blew up a hand grenade on January 14 in the building of a former school in the village of Tonenkoe. About 100 mobilized military units 87441 were stationed in the premises of a non-functioning school. As a result, seven mobilized people died , Dmitry L. himself is in the 2nd city hospital of Belgorod, along with 15 other wounded.
Read also the military summary of The Insider for January 16: “APU says that Soledar has not yet been surrendered, the number of victims in the Dnieper is growing, the UK will transfer tanks to Ukraine. What's happening on the front line .