Wagner Group advances Russia's positions in Ukraine: "Soledar is completely destroyed"

Russia's invasion of Ukraine has brought international attention to the geography of a war-torn country struggling to break free from the Kremlin's military aggression. The names Kherson, Kharkov, Mariupol, Sievierodonetsk and Zaporiyia have recently been joined by that of Soledar, a village in Donetsk that was home to just over 10,000 people a few weeks ago. The enclave, reduced to ashes by the fighting, is part of a larger offensive to control the town of Bakhmut, which Russia considers crucial to fully occupying the Donbas region. 

The conquest of Bakhmut, a town with a pre-war population of 70,000, has become the Kremlin's main objective eleven months after it launched a full-scale invasion aimed at subduing the entire country. The Kremlin's blind ambitions, however, were quickly forcibly curtailed by the Ukrainian army. 

Bajmut is embedded in a strategic supply line in the heart of the Donbas. Its control could make it easier for Russian troops to seize two larger and more important cities, Kramatorsk and Sloviansk, at a later stage. That is where its importance lies. That explains, incidentally, why the city has seen some of the bloodiest fighting since the invasion began. Many lives have been lost in the trenches and beyond. 

But all eyes are on Soledar, where fighting has been gaining in intensity for the past four days. Ukrainian forces are fighting a fierce battle against the mercenaries of the Wagner Group, the spearhead of the Russian contingent in the area. The private military company, led by the oligarch Yevgeny Prigozhin, has been filling its ranks with Russian convicts by promising them exonerations or reduced sentences. The PMC, however, does not have the legal prerogatives to do so. Moreover, they are prohibited under current Russian law.

Update from Bakhmut and Soledar by Kiyanyn, 10 January (about 3 hours ago). pic.twitter.com/uqq8yp7F4O

— Dmitri (@wartranslated) January 10, 2023

The shady businessman, known as Putin's Chef because of the regular catering contracts that linked him to the Kremlin when he was fully engaged in the hospitality industry, is present in eastern Ukraine where the fighting is raging. From there, the businessman has spoken out via his press office's Telegram account to deny that Ukrainian soldiers were deserting en masse. "Let's be honest with ourselves. The Ukrainian army is fighting bravely for Bajmut and Soledar," he acknowledged. 

The tactics employed by Prigozhin in these two enclaves have led to soaring casualties among Wagner's mercenaries. And also among Kremlin troops. Military observers have described the consequences of Russia's strategy as "carnage". "The enemy literally advances on the corpses of its own soldiers and uses massive artillery, rocket launchers and mortars, hitting its own troops," said Ukrainian Deputy Defence Minister Hanna Malyar. "They attack our positions in waves, but the wounded, as a rule, die where they lie, either from exposure, as it is very cold, or from loss of blood. No one comes to help them or to pick up the dead from the battlefield," Ukrainian military analyst Oleh Zhdanov commented on YouTube. 

Volodymir Zelensky questioned in his regular evening address the motives that have led the Kremlin to fight in this way for Soledar. Everything is completely destroyed, there is almost no life left," the Ukrainian president lamented. All the land near Soledar is covered with corpses of the occupiers and scars from the attacks," he concluded in a low-key speech that many have interpreted as a preparation to confirm defeat. 

Prigozhin clarified the Ukrainian president's doubts. "The icing on the cake is the Soledar and Bajmut mine system, which is actually a network of underground cities. Not only does it have the capacity to hold a large group of people at a depth of 80-100 metres, but tanks and infantry fighting vehicles can also be moved," he explained on his Telegram account. The vast salt mines contain more than 160 kilometres of tunnels and a huge underground hall, and could be used for military purposes. But there could be commercial motives behind it. 

Ukrainian armor engaging Russian troops near the central shaft of the salt mine in center Soledar. #Ukraine #Soledar #Donetsk pic.twitter.com/VHWAs27MZJ

— (((Tendar))) (@Tendar) January 8, 2023

It would not be the first time Wagner has been mobilised for such purposes. The private military company operates in a handful of African countries to protect and defend the interests of the various governments that hire its services. In return, the paramilitary arm closely linked to Kremlin interests has virtually unlimited access to natural resources. The US State Department keeps a close eye on Prigozhin, who also has an online army of bots that interfere in the domestic politics of various countries. 

Wagner's mercenaries and other Russian forces may by now have taken control of most of Soledar, according to the UK Ministry of Defence. The seizure of the enclave is an effort "to envelop Bajmut from the north and disrupt Ukrainian lines of communication", adds the British military intelligence service in its daily monitoring of the conflict. Moscow's operations go further. Its troops are advancing in three directions on the Donbas front: around Bakhmut; further south, around Avdiivka; and to the north, in Lyman, according to the Ukrainian General Staff. 

If the siege of Soledar and Bakhmut was successful, Prigozhin and his men would be reinforced. It would be Russia's first battlefield victory since almost the beginning of the invasion. The Russian PMC had already played a leading role in the occupation of the Crimean peninsula in 2014. Many of the little green men who intervened at that time on the side of the pro-Russian separatists to drive out the Ukrainian forces are believed to have been part of Wagner.

Nine years on, Prigozhin has taken advantage of the Russian military's weakness on the ground to gain weight and influence. "Russia's dwindling prospects in its war in Ukraine and Prigozhin's growing political clout have transformed the Wagner Group from an obscure group of covert operators into a trusted or at least necessary auxiliary force in the trenches," writes analyst Hotaka Nakamura in the Middle East Institute (MEI). The oligarch even has the luxury of openly criticising Putin's ministers, such as Defence Minister Sergey Shoigu.

"As Prigozhin strengthens his position within Putin's inner circle, he could push for the Russian government to finally lift the ban on private military companies and pave the way for the Wagner Group to become a more open and institutionalised instrument of Russian hard power," says Nakamura, who recalls "the mercenaries' history of brutality and their patron's preference for violent methods", which will inevitably "exacerbate the human suffering caused by the war and further destabilise the region".