Podolyak emphasized that the Russians did not seize the initiative in that direction.

The adviser to the head of the President’s Office, Mykhailo Podolyak, said that Russia could lose up to 20,000 occupiers near Bakhmut and Soledar in the Donetsk region. He emphasized that the Russian invaders do not care about losses and have concentrated almost the entire combat-ready group in the Soledar area.

“The Russians concentrated there almost everything they had that was capable of combat, including the remnants of the contract army – special forces and paratroopers, but these are only “remnants”. There is the “darkness” of the Zeks, who do not care where to go and how to fight. And there are also soldiers from the PKV “Wagner”. That is, Russia has concentrated these troops near Bakhmut and Soledar. However, they do not manage to capture even something on the outskirts of Bakhmut, so they went to Soledar,” he said in an interview with Channel 24.

According to Podolyak, this is a strike group. The adviser to the head of the VP noted that the Russians “have been so fond of fighting since Soviet times – they concentrate everything they can from manpower, artillery and ammunition in one direction.”

“It is impossible to say exactly what losses the Russian army has in this direction. But it is not a thousand or two – it is 10, 15 or even 20 thousand for the entire time of the offensive on Bakhmut and Soledar. They do not consider losses there. For the Russians, it is fundamentally important to capture even though would be something so that it would be possible to talk for 2 weeks about the fact that they conditionally “captured the northern outskirts of the city of Soledar”, that they are “waging fierce battles in the center of Soledar”, that this will “solve the issue of war and peace” and then “Ukraine will fall” , – he continued.

In addition, Podolyak noted that for the domestic audience, the Russians have been talking for a week about “effective progress in the Bakhmut direction, and now in the Soledar direction.”

“But I would like to emphasize that this is not the case – the Russians have not seized the initiative, and they are fighting the same way as before – they are concentrating a large number of troops near Soledar. But this will not bring any turning point in the war. The only thing that I am sorry about is everything there “What is happening is the number of our guys who have to hold machine guns in their hands 24/7 in 17 degrees of frost. It is difficult. We are losing our people, but Russia will no longer be able to turn the tide of this war,” Podolyak summarized.

The situation in Soledar and Bakhmut area

Ukrainian forces are fighting fiercely to keep Soledar, the Russian invaders have not managed to break through the Ukrainian defenses behind the defenders of the city. Serhiy Cherevaty, the representative of the eastern group of troops, noted that during the day the enemy attacked the city with artillery 91 times, but the Ukrainian artillerymen hit back.

At the Commander-in-Chief Headquarters, the participants paid special attention to the battles in Bakhmut and Soledar. At the same time, President Volodymyr Zelenskyi emphasized that the units defending these cities will be provided with ammunition and everything necessary promptly and without interruption.

In addition, Maxar Technologies showed what Soledar and Bakhmut of the Donetsk region look like, where fierce battles with the Russian occupiers continue.