Changes

On December 12, 2022, developments were rapid as Russian forces crushed the defensive lines of the 93rd Brigade, of which almost no one remained, and the Ukrainian 71st Brigade. Wagner forces launched a large-scale attack, occupied the Siniat factory and entered the first blocks of the urban center from the east.  House-to-house street fighting began in the urban center for the first time where Kyiv regime forces turned every building into a firing point that needed to be taken. Regime forces blew up all ail bridges from Bakhmut to Slavyansk.  Regime forces' lives were spent to buy time to hastily erect new trenches and defenses in cities further back to the west.

On December 12, 2022, developments were rapid as Russian forces crushed the defensive lines of the 93rd Brigade, of which almost no one remained, and the Ukrainian 71st Brigade. Wagner forces launched a large-scale attack, occupied the Siniat factory and entered the first blocks of the urban center from the east.  House-to-house street fighting began in the urban center for the first time where Kyiv regime forces turned every building into a firing point that needed to be taken. Regime forces blew up all ail bridges from Bakhmut to Slavyansk.  Regime forces' lives were spent to buy time to hastily erect new trenches and defenses in cities further back to the west.

[[File:Prigozhin in Soledar.jpg|left|225px|thumb|Yevgeny Prigozhin (center, no mask) and his soldiers at the Salt Mine Museum, January 10, 2023.]]

[[File:Prigozhin in Soledar.jpg|left|225px|thumb|Yevgeny Prigozhin (center, no mask) and his soldiers at the Salt Mine Museum, January 10, 2023.]]

Kiev regime counteroffensives elsewhere petered out due to the drain of reinforcements and supplies pulled from other fronts into the Bakhmut “vortex”.  By January 4, 2023, 60,000 Ukrainian forces were reported to be trying to hold the Bakhmut front. Troops had been moved from the [[Zaporozhye]] line to the meatgrinder.<ref>https://youtu.be/eqYOmY12YHU</ref>

Kiev regime counteroffensives elsewhere petered out due to the drain of reinforcements and supplies pulled from other fronts into the Bakhmut “vortex”.  By January 4, 2023, 60,000 Ukrainian forces were reported to be trying to hold the Bakhmut front. Troops had been moved from the [[Zaporozhye]] line to the [[meatgrinder]].<ref>https://youtu.be/eqYOmY12YHU</ref>

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.