It is an area which remains, according to the Ukrainian army, “the hottest point of the front”, where “fierce fighting takes place”. It is in Bakhmout, a city in eastern Ukraine, that “the enemy has concentrated there the maximum of combat-ready forces, including Wagner’s units”, a paramilitary group whose mercenaries fight alongside the troops Russians, said Serguiï Tcherevaty, spokesman for the eastern command of the army, on Monday January 9.
Also in the east, Russian troops carried out a “massive bombardment” on Kurakhivka, which injured at least two people and damaged around 20 houses, according to Governor Pavlo Kyrylenko.
- Ukraine resists “violent assaults” in Soledar
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Monday that his troops were resisting “new, even more violent assaults” in Soledar, near Bakhmout, a city in eastern Ukraine that Moscow has been trying to seize for months. “I thank all our soldiers who protect Bakhmout […] and the fighters in Soledar, who are resisting new, even more violent assaults from the invaders,” Volodymyr Zelensky said in his daily message.
Soledar, in the Donetsk region, is some 15 kilometers from Bakhmout, a town which had around 70,000 inhabitants before the start of the Russian offensive last February, and which is therefore now the epicenter of the fighting.
“Thanks to the resistance of our soldiers there, in Soledar, we gained additional time and (preserved) forces for Ukraine”, welcomed the Ukrainian president. “Everything is completely destroyed […] The entire territory of Soledar is covered with the corpses of the invaders and bears the scars of the explosions. This is what madness looks like,” he added. Earlier in the day, the Ukrainian armed forces said they had repelled an attempt to take Soledar and then fighting had resumed.
- Two dead in market bombing
At least two people were killed Monday in a Russian airstrike that hit a market in the village of Shevchenkove in northeastern Ukraine, local authorities said. “Six people were injured in a rocket attack on Shevchenkove. Two others died,” Kharkiv region governor Oleg Synegoubov said on Telegram, posting photos of firefighters in rubble and stalls on fire.
- The EU and NATO are stepping up their cooperation
NATO and the European Union are committed to strengthening their cooperation after the invasion of Ukraine by Russia which threatens security in Europe, indicates a joint declaration consulted Monday by AFP. The two Brussels-based organizations have sought to improve their coordination for years, and want to dispel the feeling that efforts to strengthen the EU’s role in defense are undermining the US-led alliance.
“NATO remains the foundation of the collective defense of its Allies and is essential for Euro-Atlantic security. We recognize the value of a stronger and more capable European defense which contributes positively to global and transatlantic security. and which is complementary and interoperable with NATO”, insists the joint declaration.
It must be signed this Tuesday, January 10 by the Secretary General of the Alliance, Jens Stoltenberg, the President of the European Council Charles Michel and the President of the Commission Ursula von der Leyen. “This is a much more political declaration than the one adopted in 2018,” said a European official. “The text was written before the conflict in Ukraine and it had to be completely rewritten,” he said.