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→Winter campaign - the Bakhmut meatgrinder
As early as January 5, 2023 Russians approached Soledar from two strike axes, from the north and from the south, forcing Ukrainian forces into a hard-fought retreat to avoid encirclement. Over the next few days, formations with Ukraine's 46th Airborne Brigade, supplemented with artillery and additional armor, managed to somewhat stabilize the situation, but not for long.
As early as January 5, 2023 Russians approached Soledar from two strike axes, from the north and from the south, forcing Ukrainian forces into a hard-fought retreat to avoid encirclement. Over the next few days, formations with Ukraine's 46th Airborne Brigade, supplemented with artillery and additional armor, managed to somewhat stabilize the situation, but not for long.
On January 8, 2023 Russian forces cut the highway between Bakhmut and Soledar and the highway between Bakhmut and Siversk. Tactical encirclement of the remaining troops in Soledar was completed on January 9, 2023. On January 10 the Wagner group media announced the capture of Soledar; Yevgeny Prigozhin, founder and head of the Wagner group, personally took part in the campaign and was present on the battlefield. According to Ukrainian sources, Ukraine lost 17 battalions, roughly 23,000 soldiers, in the Battle of Soledar. Most of the captured POWs were from the elite 77th Airborne Brigade of the AFU, trained in the UK in late fall 2022. On January 12, at least 200 Ukrainian soldiers were reported to be hiding in the underground salt mine tunnels, along with large stockpiles of ammunition. Salt Mine No. 7 was rumored to have a tunnel that extended all the way south to Bakhmut. Salt Mine 7 was captured by Wagner fighters by January 16, 2023. Russian forces rapidly moved on in the Seversk direction.
On January 17, 2023, Moonofalabama reported counting 27 brigade size formations of Ukrainian forces in the Bakhmut area. Those forces would constitute 50% of Ukraine's battle ready forces.<ref>https://www.moonofalabama.org/2023/01/ukraine-sitrep-media-ignorance-counter-artillery-war-three-lost-armies-.html</ref> On January 20 Big Serge stated that "publicly available Ukrainian sources locate at least 34 brigade or equivalent units that have been deployed in the Bakhmut area. Many of these were deployed months ago and are already shattered, but over the full span of the ongoing battle this represents an astonishing commitment."<ref>https://bigserge.substack.com/p/russo-ukrainian-war-the-world-blood</ref> The estimated life expectancy of a Ukrainian soldier deployed in Bakhmut according to some sources was 4 hours.
===AFU use of chemical weapons===
''Southfront'' reported that Wagner group fighters claimed the AFU were using unidentified chemical weapons in an attempt to stop Russian advance on the street of Trudovye Rezervy in Bakhmut on January 7, 2023. As a result of the attack, Russian soldiers got severe burns. They were evacuated from the battlefield and hospitalized. Videos distributed by Ukrainian sources confirmed that the AFU did use chemical weapons. Ukrainian militants boasted of making “dirty bombs” on the social networks. In one video,<ref>https://s2.cdnstatic.space/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/BOMBS.mp4?_=2</ref> Ukrainians are assembling kamikaze drones aimed at dropping homemade ammunition. The shells were made of small homemade cylinders filled with some kind of chemical substance. This is indicated by the weight of the contents which are different and average 700 grams. The shown head fuses also do not look like detonation devices but are more like devices aimed at mixing or spraying chemicals.
''Southfront'' reported that Wagner group fighters claimed the AFU were using unidentified chemical weapons in an attempt to stop Russian advance on the street of Trudovye Rezervy in Bakhmut on January 7, 2023. As a result of the attack, Russian soldiers got severe burns. They were evacuated from the battlefield and hospitalized. Videos distributed by Ukrainian sources confirmed that the AFU did use chemical weapons. Ukrainian militants boasted of making “dirty bombs” on the social networks. In one video,<ref>https://s2.cdnstatic.space/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/BOMBS.mp4?_=2</ref> Ukrainians are assembling kamikaze drones aimed at dropping homemade ammunition. The shells were made of small homemade cylinders filled with some kind of chemical substance. This is indicated by the weight of the contents which are different and average 700 grams. The shown head fuses also do not look like detonation devices but are more like devices aimed at mixing or spraying chemicals.
The cylinders were likely filled with hydrocyanic acid (HCN), which is a poisonous volatile liquid. 85-90% of poisoning cases end in death. The concentration of HCN of more than 0.4 mg/l causes deadly poisoning. If the concentration of the substance in the air exceeds 11 mg / l, then intoxication is possible even percutaneously. The Russian Embassy in the UK identified the illegal toxic munitions as possibly [[phosgene]], prohibited by the United Nations Chemical Weapons Convention.<ref>https://twitter.com/RussianEmbassy/status/1613982741271351305</ref> The letters “OB” as seen in the video stand for toxic munition. This also explains why the gas cylinders need to be stored in the refrigerator.
The cylinders were likely filled with hydrocyanic acid (HCN), which is a poisonous volatile liquid. 85-90% of poisoning cases end in death. The concentration of HCN of more than 0.4 mg/l causes deadly poisoning. If the concentration of the substance in the air exceeds 11 mg / l, then intoxication is possible even percutaneously. The Russian Embassy in the UK identified the illegal toxic munitions as possibly [[phosgene]], prohibited by the United Nations Chemical Weapons Convention.<ref>https://twitter.com/RussianEmbassy/status/1613982741271351305</ref> The letters “OB” as seen in the video stand for toxic munition. This also explains why the gas cylinders need to be stored in the refrigerator.
On February 6, 2023 Ukrainian Nazis were reported to have used chemical weapons, which they openly boasted about on social networks. The infamous Ukrainian blogger and commander of a separate tactical air reconnaissance group Madyar published a new video showing FPV drones and chemical munitions, hinting that the Ukrainian military are preparing to use prohibited weapons in Bakhmut. On the evening of February 5, 2023 the first use of this chemical weapon was reported in the village of Novobakhmutovka on the outskirts of Donetsk. Russian servicemen suffered vomiting and convulsions.<ref>https://www.bitchute.com/video/SS9QdGSfJhva/</ref><ref>https://youtu.be/LkGYtA46qJI</ref> The claims were supported by photos of crashed drones identical to those that Magyar boasted about in a video uploaded to the internet.<ref>https://s4.cdnstatic.space/wp-content/uploads/video/06.02.2023_IMR_Ukraine.mp4</ref>
==See also==
==See also==