06 Jan: Genius Move. Russians Never Expected That - Reporting from Ukraine

[TexasTowelie]

Day 317: January 06

Today the Ukrainians managed to make a huge surprise to the Russians in the Soledar area. After stepping a little bit back from their initial positions in Soledar, they drew in a lot of Russian forces that wanted to maintain the momentum and push the Ukrainians as far as possible. However, it turned out that the Ukrainians had a lot of underground passages, and so because the front line shifted westward, the Ukrainians were able to suddenly appear right behind Russian backs and cause a lot of trouble.

Yesterday I told you that Ukrainian control over the eastern part of Soledar was compromised because the Russians established total control over Yakovlivka and started attacking them from the flank. I told you that the Ukrainians retreated from the local school in Bakhmutske towards the warehouses and from the factory Knauf in Soledar around three streets back. Today it turned out that the retreat process was incomplete and that the Ukrainians decided to leave warehouses in Bakhmutske as well.

The fights are taking place in the area of the train station Dekonske. The latest updates also suggest that even though the area of Ukrainian control shrank by several kilometers, it does not mean that the Russians have total control over the emptied territory. Today Russian sources confirmed that Russian forces experience huge problems with moving forward in Soledar. The reason why the Russians can’t even start storming the central part of Soledar is that the Ukrainians are using various secret tunnels to get into the Russian rear and sabotage it. As you remember, yesterday I told you that the Ukrainians are fully controlling a Salt Mine that has an incredibly developed network of underground communication. A lot of caves and tunnels lead to the eastern part of Soledar. Since the eastern part of Soledar is behind the contact line, the Russians do not monitor every block that they assume is under their control, so the Ukrainians can deploy in small groups, leave some mines, destroy small ammunition depots and some equipment and sneak back. The Russians struggle to reveal the entrances to the tunnels, and therefore they cannot move in their equipment closer to the front to maintain their positions there permanently. So, even though the Ukrainians stepped back by several kilometers, most of the area that they left is going to remain in the grey zone, creating a valuable buffer in front of the main stronghold in the central part of the city.

More news is coming from the southern region. Several days ago, the Ukrainians deployed a small group to the island Velykyi Potiomkin and placed a Ukrainian flag. Later, the head of the Southern Group of Forces elaborated that this was basically a signal to the Russians to leave this island as fast as possible. Today the Russians made a response and started shelling the bridge that connects that Ukrainian-controlled land to the island. Some sources are saying that the Russians are likely using this island to shell Kherson. The Russians reportedly move in their artillery systems, make a full salvo and quickly pull back. In order to ensure the safety of the city, the Ukrainians are trying to at least put this island in the grey zone. And while nothing suggests that the Ukrainians are conducting active on-the-ground operations, today, there were a lot of reports of big explosions along the front line.

The explosions were inflicted by the Ukrainian Air Force, which has conducted a series of fire missions with a specific focus on Oleshky and Radensk. These are quite big settlements located right on the main Russian highway, so there have always been a lot of soldiers stationed in the region. While the Ukrainian General Staff is still gathering information about the results of these strikes, they have published a report about yesterday’s strikes. They stated that over the last several days, the Ukrainians had identified the areas of concentrations of Russian forces near Tokmak and Havrylivka Druha. As a result of targeting military objects, the Ukrainians have inflicted irretrievable losses of 80 mobilized soldiers in Tokmak and 100 soldiers in Havrylivka.

[Cha]

1. Zelensky & Ukrainian are

Brilliant!

Thank You!