Ukrainian forces no longer hold an organized defense in Soledar. This is reported by the Institute for the Study of War (ISW).
"The likely capture of Soledar by russian forces on January 11 is not an operationally significant event and is unlikely to herald the imminent russian encirclement of Bakhmut. Geolocation footage released on January 11 and 12 shows that russian forces likely control most, if not all, of Soledar, and have likely pushed Ukrainian forces out of the western outskirts of the settlement", - the message said.
Analysts note that the AFU General Staff and other high-ranking military sources, for the most part, did not report that Ukrainian forces repelled russian attacks on Soledar on January 12, as they had previously done.
"All available evidence suggests that Ukrainian forces are no longer holding organized defenses at Soledar. The January 12 statement by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky that Ukrainian forces are maintaining positions at Soledar may be referring to defensive positions nearby, but not at Soledar", - ISW writes.
At the same time, it is noted that russian information operations exaggerated the importance of Soledar, which is at best a "Pyrrhic tactical victory for russia".
The ISW continues to assess that the capture of Soledar, a settlement of less than 5.5 square miles, will not allow russian forces to control critical Ukrainian ground lines of communication (GLOCs) with Bakhmut, as well as will not improve the positions of russian forces to encircle the city.
As previously reported, the rashists are suffering heavy losses in their attempts to break through Soledar.