The night in Soledar of the Donetsk Oblast was difficult; Ukrainian defenders are trying to hold the defense, battles continue, Deputy Defense Minister of Ukraine Hanna Maliar reported.
"The enemy threw almost all the main forces in Donetsk direction and maintains a high intensity of offensive. Defenders of Ukraine are valiantly trying to hold the defense," Maliar wrote. She added that "this is a difficult stage of the war", but Ukraine "will undoubtedly win."
ISW assesses that the Russian forces’ likely capture of Soledar on January 11 is not an operationally significant development and is unlikely to presage an imminent Russian encirclement of Bakhmut.
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