Ukrainian forces have conducted an organised retreat from a town in the eastern region of the Donbas, an official said.
It marks a rare but modest battlefield triumph for the Kremlin after a series of setbacks in its invasion, which began almost 11 months ago.
The Ukrainian army pulled back from the salt-mining town of Soledar to “preserve the lives of the personnel”, Serhii Cherevatyi, a spokesman for Ukraine’s forces in the east, said.
The soldiers retreated to previously prepared defensive positions, he said.
Latest Defence Intelligence update on the situation in Ukraine - 25 January 2023
Find out more about the UK government's response: https://t.co/c8as8hYBrr
🇺🇦 #StandWithUkraine 🇺🇦 pic.twitter.com/YiIweSI6hIAdvertisement— Ministry of Defence 🇬🇧 (@DefenceHQ) January 25, 2023
Moscow has portrayed the battle for Soledar, which lies near the city of Bakhmut, as key to capturing the entire Donbas.
The accomplishment takes the Russian forces a step closer to Bakhmut, but military analysts say capturing Soledar is more symbolic than strategic.
Ukraine’s military, which has held out in Soledar against a months-long onslaught of superior Russian forces, said its fierce defence of the eastern stronghold helped tie up Russian forces.
Russia claimed almost two weeks ago it had taken Soledar but Ukraine denied it.
Many of Russia’s troops around Soledar belong to the private Russian military contractor Wagner Group and the fighting reportedly has been bloody.
Since its invasion of Ukraine, Moscow has prioritised taking full control of the Donbas — a region made up of the Donetsk and Luhansk provinces, where it has backed a separatist insurgency since 2014.
Russia has seized most of Luhansk but about half of Donetsk remains under Ukraine’s control.
Taking control of the town could allow Russian forces to cut supply lines to Ukrainian forces in Bakhmut, though the strength of Ukraine’s new defensive positions is unknown.
The Institute for the Study of War, a think tank in Washington, said earlier this month the fall of Soledar would not mark “an operationally significant development and is unlikely to presage an imminent Russian encirclement of Bakhmut”.
The institute said Russian information operations have “over-exaggerated the importance of Soledar”, which is a small settlement.
It also said the long and difficult battle has contributed to the exhaustion of Russian forces.
Perhaps more worrying for Moscow, western military help for Ukraine is now being stepped up with the delivery of tanks.
The illegal and unprovoked invasion of Ukraine is continuing.
The map below is the latest Defence Intelligence update on the situation in Ukraine – 24 January 2023.
Find out more about the UK government's response: https://t.co/clScJuwc83
🇺🇦 #StandWithUkraine 🇺🇦 pic.twitter.com/7JR2B5MhsO— Ministry of Defence 🇬🇧 (@DefenceHQ) January 24, 2023
Elsewhere, Russian forces have continued to pummel Ukrainian areas, especially in the south and east.
Russian strikes hurt 10 civilians in the eastern Donetsk province on Tuesday, Pavlo Kyrylenko, the provincial governor, said.
Five were wounded when Russian shells hit apartment blocks, he said.
The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine said on Wednesday that over the previous 24 hours Russian forces launched four missile strikes, 26 airstrikes and more than 100 attacks from rocket salvo systems.
Russian forces are concentrating their efforts on establishing control over Donetsk province, conducting offensive operations around the embattled cities of Bakhmut, Lyman and Avdiivka, and the village of Novopavlivka, according to spokesman Oleksandr Shtupun.
In addition to Donetsk, the Russian attacks hit settlements in the country’s north-eastern Kharkiv and Sumy, northern Chernihiv, easternmost Luhansk, south-eastern Zaporizhzhia, and southern Kherson provinces.
I am often asked about how you have changed this year. And I always answer: "He haven't changed. He is the same. The same guy I have met when we were seventeen."
But actually, something has changed: you smile much less now. For example, like on this photo... 1/2 pic.twitter.com/fBUFXkFCIR— Олена Зеленська (@ZelenskaUA) January 25, 2023
Meanwhile, Volodymyr Zelensky, the Ukraine president who has gone from professional comedian to an internationally recognised wartime leader, turned 45 on Wednesday.
His wife, first lady Olena Zelenska, said though he is the same person as when they met at 17, “something has changed: you smile much less now”.
“I wish you to have more reasons for smiling. And you know what it takes. We all do,” she wrote in a tweet.
