RUSSIA’S victory is unavoidable. It is based on the unity of the Russian people, the heroism of special operation fighters and the operation of the military-industrial complex (MIC), Russian President Vladimir Putin said during his visit to the Obukhov State Plant (an Almaz-Antey subsidiary) on Wednesday.
The head of state noted that the Russian military-industrial complex produces as many air defence missiles as all world producers combined. In addition, Putin noted a number of other components that assure him of Russia’s victory.
‘From the standpoint of the end result and victory, which is unavoidable, there are several things that have not gone anywhere and that lie at the foundation of our victory. It is the unity and solidarity of the Russian people, the bravery and heroism of our fighters in the special military operation and on the frontline, and, of course, the operation of the military-industrial complex, of enterprises such as yours,’ he said, noting the contribution of the factory’s workers and the economy in general.
‘Each of these links – the industry; the condition of state finances; the social sphere, including support to the families that require special attention from the state; healthcare – all this creates a foundation for our efficient development and victory. It is ensured. I have no doubts about that,’ Putin added.
Russian assault groups are pushing forward in the city of Artyomovsk (called Bakhmut in Ukraine), acting Head of the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) Denis Pushilin said on Wednesday.
‘In Artyomovsk, assault teams of the Wagner private military company continue the battles, the situation remains quite tense but the guys are moving forward,’ he said in a live broadcast on Russia’s TV Channel One.
Fierce battles are raging in the Artyomovsk area. The DPR leader earlier said that Russian forces were consistently working on cutting off the Ukrainian army’s supply routes in that area and enveloping it in a pincer movement. The city’s seizure will enable Russian troops to switch to liberating the northern part of the Donetsk People’s Republic, he explained.
The Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republic repeatedly reported that the Ukrainian military command was redeploying additional troops to the Artyomovsk area but was suffering heavy losses there.
Russian forces dislodged Ukrainian troops east of the settlement of Opytnoye in the Avdeyevka area and expanded their bridgehead, Pushilin said on Wednesday.
‘Now we can say that our units have driven them (the Ukrainian military) out of their positions east of Opytnoye and expanded the bridgehead,’ the DPR leader said in a live broadcast on Russia’s TV Channel One.
Russian forces also improved their positions in the northern part of the community of Vodyanoye, he added.
He said that the prisoners that Russian forces have taken in Soledar include foreign mercenaries.
‘As for prisoners, I can’t give you the exact number right now. They include foreign mercenaries, but as a rule, the Ukrainian regime continues to keep that under wraps as much as possible,’ he said on Channel One television.
‘There’s more foreign mercenaries that have been killed than taken prisoner,’ Pushilin went on to say.
Soledar is about 100 kilometres north of Donetsk and until recently was part of the Ukrainian defence line stretching from Artyomovsk to Soledar to Seversk.
Russian troops completed the liberation of Soledar from Ukrainian formations on the evening of January 12. Russian Defence Ministry Spokesman Lieutenant-General Igor Konashenkov said on Wednesday that full control of the town makes it possible to cut off supply lines for Ukrainian forces in Artyomovsk, then seal off and surround the units that remain there.
Russian troops supported by combat aircraft, missile troops and artillery liberated the community of Sol in the Donetsk People’s Republic during the special military operation in Ukraine, Defence Ministry Spokesman Lieutenant-General Igor Konashenkov reported on Wednesday.
‘In the Donetsk direction, volunteers of assault units, supported by operational-tactical and army aircraft, missile troops and artillery of the Southern Military District, liberated the community of Sol in the Donetsk People’s Republic,’ the spokesman said.
‘In the Kupyansk direction, the Western Military District’s artillery delivered strikes on units of the Ukrainian army’s 14th and 92nd mechanised brigades and 103rd territorial defence brigade in areas near the settlements of Dvurechnoye and Krakhmalnoye in the Kharkov Region and Novosyolovskoye in the Lugansk People’s Republic,’ Konashenkov reported.
As a result of the strikes, Russian troops ‘eliminated over 60 Ukrainian servicemen, an armoured personnel carrier, two pickup trucks, two motor vehicles and a US-made M777 artillery system,’ the general specified.
Russian artillery, airborne forces and combat aircraft delivered strikes on Ukrainian army units in the Krasny Liman area, eliminating over 90 enemy troops in the past day, Konashenkov reported.
‘In the Krasny Liman direction, artillery of the Central Military District and the Airborne Force, army and assault aircraft delivered strikes on amassed manpower of the Ukrainian army’s 92nd mechanised, 80th and 95th air assault brigades near the localities of Stelmakhovka and Chervonaya Dibrova in the Lugansk People’s Republic, and also the Serebryansky forestry,’ the spokesman said.
In all, the enemy lost over 90 personnel, an infantry fighting vehicle and three armoured combat vehicles in that area over the past 24 hours, the general specified.
Russian forces eliminated roughly 90 Ukrainian troops in the Donetsk area over the past day, Konashenkov reported.
‘Up to 90 Ukrainian troops, three armoured combat vehicles, four motor vehicles, a Msta-B howitzer and a Grad multiple rocket launcher were destroyed in that area in the past 24 hours. A Ukrainian army depot of ammunition for HIMARS and Grad multiple launch rocket systems was wiped out in the area of the city of Kramatorsk,’ the spokesman said.
‘In the southern Donetsk direction, artillery units of the Eastern and Southern Military Districts, and also the Pacific Fleet’s marine infantry thwarted the attempts by three Ukrainian assault groups to advance towards the communities of Stepnoye, Sladkoye and Urozhainoye in the Donetsk People’s Republic,’ the spokesman said.
The enemy’s total losses in that area in the past 24 hours amounted to 90 Ukrainian troops, four armoured fighting vehicles, one pickup truck and seven motor vehicles, the general specified.
‘In the past 24 hours, operational-tactical aircraft, missile troops and artillery of the Russian group of forces inflicted damage on 76 Ukrainian artillery units at firing positions, manpower and military hardware in 103 areas,’ Konashenkov reported.
‘Fighter aircraft of the Aerospace Forces of Russia shot down a Ukrainian Air Force Su-25 (ground attack) plane near the locality of Yablonovka in the Donetsk People’s Republic’, over the past day, he said.
‘Two AN/TPQ-50 and AN/TPQ-48 counter-battery warfare radars of US manufacture and also an ST-68 target detection and tracking radar station were destroyed,’ Konashenkov reported.
‘In the past 24 hours, (Russian) air defence capabilities destroyed seven Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles in areas near the communities of Krivosheyevka, Kremennaya, Chervonopopovka and Krasnorechenskoye in the Lugansk People’s Republic, and also intercepted an Olkha rocket near Vladimirovka in the Donetsk People’s Republic,’ the spokesman added.
In all, the Russian Armed Forces have destroyed 373 Ukrainian warplanes, 200 helicopters, 2,898 unmanned aerial vehicles, 401 surface-to-air missile systems, 7,563 tanks and other armoured combat vehicles, 985 multiple rocket launchers, 3,855 field artillery guns and mortars and 8,101 special military motor vehicles since the start of the special military operation, Konashenkov reported.
Full-scale hostilities in Donbass have continued unabated since 2014, and all of Russia’s counter-measures, including the special operation, are aimed at stopping this war, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday at a meeting with veterans of the Great Patriotic War and survivors of the siege of Leningrad during World War II.
‘In fact, full-scale hostilities in Donbass have not stopped since 2014. They involved heavy equipment, artillery, tanks and aircraft. It all happened. Everything that we are doing today, including the special military operation, is an attempt to stop this war. This is the gist of our operation: to protect our people who live there, on these territories,’ he said.
Putin recalled that those lands were historical territories of Russia, which, after the collapse of the Soviet Union, were ceded to Ukraine. ‘Russia reconciled itself with this development, despite the fact that these are our historical territories. But we could not but react to what began to happen there,’ he said.
Putin drew attention to the fact that the tragedy that developed into the current events in Ukraine started in 2014.
‘It began precisely with an armed coup in Ukraine. And, as we know, this required our assistance to the Crimeans. Then the events in Donbass followed,’ Putin recalled.
He noted that the Kiev authorities had begun, in fact, to exterminate people who lived in these territories – ‘for the sole reason they consider themselves linked with Russian culture, with the Russian language and with the traditions of their people, their ancestors’.
