the city of Zaporizhia again bombarded by the Russian army

Cover image: The Zaporizhia nuclear power plant (Ukraine), November 24, 2022. ALEXANDER ERMOCHENKO / REUTERS

Fierce fighting is taking place in Soledar, eastern Ukraine, where Russia tries at all costs to reverse the course of the war. “Everything that is happening today towards Bakhmout or Soledar is the bloodiest scenario of this war”said in an interview with Agence France-Presse, Wednesday, January 11, Mykhaïlo Podoliak, an adviser to the Ukrainian presidency.
As the Russian mercenary group Wagner announced the capture of Soledar, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky assured that the fighting “continued”. “We are doing everything to strengthen the Ukrainian defense without any break, even for a day” in the eastern Donetsk region, he said.
Determined to win the war, Russia has appointed as the new military leader in Ukraine the Chief of the General Staff, General Valéri Guerassimov. Valéri Guerassimov’s predecessor, General Sergei Surovikin – demoted to the rank of deputy – only led the operations for barely three months.
In the region of Luhansk, neighboring that of Donetsk, the Russians have “collected” about 30,000 soldiers, pointed out its Ukrainian governor, Serhi Haïdaï.
Ukraine reiterated calls on its Western partners to provide it with heavy and long-range armaments. “We still want to get 250-350 heavy tanks”recalled Mykhaïlo Podoliak.
Poland has said it is ready to deliver a company of German Leopard 2 heavy tanks, ie 14 units. This delivery will be made “as part of a coalition that is being built”Polish President Andrzej Duda explained in Lviv, western Ukraine.
On the diplomatic front, a rare meeting between Russian and Ukrainian officials took place in Turkey on Tuesday between the human rights officers of the two belligerents, Dmytro Lubinets and Tatiana Moskalkova.