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Ukraine said on Thursday its forces were holding out despite heavy fighting on a battlefield littered with corpses in a salt-mining town in eastern Ukraine, where Russian mercenaries claimed Moscow’s first significant gains in half a year.
Wagner’s ultra-nationalist contract militia, led by an ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin outside the main chain of military command, claimed to have taken Soledar after fierce fighting it said had left the town with Ukrainian casualties. But Moscow did not officially declare victory.
“Right now, there are still some small pockets of resistance in Soledar,” Andrei Bayevsky, a local politician stationed in Russia, said in an online broadcast.
Ukraine has acknowledged the Russian advance but Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Malyar told a briefing on Thursday that fighting was still fierce.
The Russians “moved their own corpses,” he said. Reuters could not independently verify the situation.
Malyar said Russia had increased the number of units in Ukraine to 280 from 250 last week as it sought to regain the initiative.
The new Russian commander
Kremlin watchers are studying Russia’s latest wartime leadership transition, a day after Valery Gerasimov, the chief of the military’s general staff, was unexpectedly given direct command of the invasion.
The previous commander for three months, Army General Sergei Surovikin, was effectively demoted to one of Gerasimov’s three deputies.
Moscow interpreted the decision – at least the third sudden change of top commander in the 11-month conflict – as a response to the importance of the campaign.
Russian and Western commentators have seen efforts to blame for the setback as Russia has lost about 40 percent of the territory it captured since February.
Gerasimov has been the target of abuse from nationalist bloggers, who have flourished even as the Kremlin has shut down all independent media and jailed critics of the war.
“The move will be greeted with great displeasure by Russia’s ultra-nationalist and military blogger community, which increasingly blames Gerasimov for his poor execution of the war,” the British Defense Secretary said.
One prominent Russian military blogger posting on the Telegram messaging app under the name Rybar said Surovikin was the scapegoat for the military disaster.
‘Man’
However, Mick Ryan, a retired Australian major general, suggested in a tweet that Putin and Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu had “set up Gerasimov as the fall guy for all of Russia’s failures.”
Semyon Pegov, another Russian military blogger, noted that “now the General Staff is directly and uncompromisingly responsible for everything.”
The Ministry of Defense of Ukraine offered a mockery. “Every Russian general should receive at least one chance to fail in Ukraine,” he tweeted. “Some may be lucky enough to fail twice.”
Soledar will be Moscow’s biggest gain since a series of humiliating retreats in the second half of 2022 – but at a huge cost, with huge losses on both sides.
There were almost 10,000 people before the war. The Russians have failed in repeated attempts to capture the more important city of Bakhmut, 10 times larger.
Donetsk Governor Pavlo Kyrylenko told Ukrainian state TV that 559 civilians remain in Soledar, including 15 children, and cannot be evacuated.
Across Ukraine, the front line has been almost non-stop since Russia’s massive retreat in the south two months ago. Kyiv hopes the heavy armor of its Western allies will allow it to continue its progress.
Hoping for a tank
With the West upping the ante in a way that seemed unthinkable a few months ago, the United States, Germany and France last week pledged armored fighting vehicles – and the focus has now shifted to the main battle tank.
Polish President Andrzej Duda, who was welcomed in the Ukrainian city of Lviv on Wednesday, promised a company of 14 German-made Leopard battle tanks, as part of what he called an international coalition.
Despite the momentary blind spot, Germany, which required permission, on Thursday appeared to be yielding.
“Germany should not prevent other countries from taking a decision to support Ukraine, independent of the decision taken by Germany,” said Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck.
Britain has also said it is considering sending tanks.
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