Wagner was founded by Yevgeny Prigozhin, an ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Drawing some recruits from Russia’s prisons and known for uncompromising violence, it is active in conflicts in Africa and has taken a prominent role in Russia’s war effort in Ukraine.
Mr Prigozhin has been trying to capture Bakhmut and Soledar for months at the cost of many lives on both sides. He said on Saturday its significance lay in a network of cavernous mining tunnels below the ground, which can hold big groups of people as well as tanks and other war machines.
Ukrainian soldiers fire at Russian positions from a US-supplied M777 howitzer in Kherson region. AP
Ukrainian military analyst Oleh Zhdanov said fighting in Bahkmut and Soledar was “the most intense on the entire frontline”, with little advancement by either side in the freezing conditions.
“So many [pro-Russian fighters] remain on the battlefield … either dead or wounded,” he said on YouTube.
“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 blood loss. No one is coming to help them or to collect the dead from the battlefield.”
Reuters could not immediately verify battlefield reports.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in nightly video remarks on Monday (Tuesday AEDT) that Bakhmut and Soledar were holding on despite widespread destruction.
He cited new and fiercer attacks in Soledar, where he said no walls have been left standing, and the land is covered with Russian corpses.
“Thanks to the resilience of our soldiers in Soledar, we have won for Ukraine additional time and additional strength,” Mr Zelensky said. He did not spell out what he meant by gaining time or strength.
But Ukrainian officials, led by the commander in chief General Valery Zaluzhniy, have warned that Russia is preparing fresh troops for a new, major offensive on Ukraine, possibly on the capital Kyiv.
Ukrainian authorities reported multiple Russian strikes across the country, including on Ukraine’s second city, Kharkiv, and infrastructure in the regions of Donetsk, Kherson and Mykolaiv – where the regional governor said 15 people were injured in the shelling of a coastal town.
As the war grinds towards the one-year mark, Russia’s military is under domestic pressure to deliver battlefield successes from hawkish commentators demanding more aggression following losses of territory and troops.
Russia, which initially cited a need to rid Ukraine of nationalists, now says it is fighting a Western threat to its own existence. Kyiv and its Western allies, which have imposed broad sanctions on Moscow and sent Ukraine weapons to defend itself, say last February’s invasion was entirely unprovoked.
Mr Zelensky appears to be banking on securing more, sophisticated weapons from Ukraine’s Western partners to beat off attacks and eventually expel Russian troops.
On Monday, he pressed on with diplomatic efforts, speaking to Petr Fiala, prime minister of the Czech Republic and chairman of the 27-member European Union.
“I am certain that our soldiers at the front will get these weapons and equipment. Very soon,” he said.
France, Germany and the United States all pledged last week to send armoured fighting vehicles, fulfilling a long-standing Ukrainian request. Britain is considering supplying Ukraine with tanks for the first time, Sky News reported, citing a Western source. Britain’s Defence Ministry did not comment.
Military analysts say the strategic military benefit for Russia of capturing Bakhmut and Soledar would be limited.
Taras Berezovets, a Ukrainian journalist, political commentator and officer in the Ukrainian army, said capturing Soledar made little sense, except as a personal victory for Mr Prigozhin. However, it would be easier to take than Bakhmut.
“It’s his personal war,” Mr Berezovets said on YouTube.
A US official has said Mr Prigozhin was eyeing the salt and gypsum from the mines, believed to extend over 160 kilometres underground and contain auditorium-scale caverns.
Mr Berezovets said Ukrainian troops fighting in Bakhmut and Soledar say attacks come in waves of small groups, no more than 15, with the first wave usually wiped out. The pro-Russian forces retrench and leave white ribbons for the next wave to follow.
“The complexity of fighting in cities like Bakhmut and Soledar is that it is hard to determine who is with you and who is the enemy,” he said.
In an evacuee centre in nearby Kramatorsk, Olha, 60, said she had fled Soledar after moving from apartment to apartment as each was destroyed in tank battles.
“There isn’t one house left intact. Apartments were burning, breaking in half,” said Olha, who gave only her first name.
Two people were killed in a Russian rocket attack on Kramatorsk on Monday evening, Kyrylo Tymoshenko, an aide to Mr Zelensky, said on Telegram.
Reuters