Victory Chronicles
-DAY 321

Above: The 10,000-population town of Soledar has been almost entirely destroyed by enemy bombing.  Through the fog of war, it appears that Wagner forces have taken most of the town on Tuesday.  President Zelensky said there was “almost no life” in Soledar, “no whole walls left”, “the land near Soledar is covered with the corpses of the occupiers.”  (Novosti Donbasu)

Above: For the first time in its history, the Ukrainian Orthodox Church led the Christmas service at Holy Dormition Cathedral in the Kyiv Pechersk-Lavra monastery complex.  The complex was founded as a cave monastery in 1051 when Kyiv was the capital of the Kyiv-Rus empire. When the Soviet Union broke up, church property also had to be divided and the Russian Orthodox Church grabbed the Lavra. In December 2022, it was legally transferred to the UOC. (New Voice of Ukraine)

Above: German-made Leopard tank.  Poland is spearheading an effort to break NATO taboo and form a multi-country donation of Leopards to Ukraine. Ukraine lives in hope that the allies finally get it. (NEXTA)

Video: German Leopard tanks were designed with kremlin aggression in mind. 

The Leopard 2 were designed to roam around Europe in winter, hunt in packs, and slay russian armor… not releasing them onto the Ukrainian steppe is denying them their reason to live.

Give Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine!! pic.twitter.com/C9lGIZpUrL

— Thomas C. Theiner (@noclador) January 6, 2023

• Russian and Ukrainian sources indicate that a second wave of enemy mobilization is imminent and could potentially begin on January 15. A Kremlin proxy agent for occupied Donbas stated that Russia “will be forced to carry out a second, and maybe a third wave of mobilization. To win in Ukraine, Russia will need to put another half a million soldiers into service.”
• Russia is trying to avoid paying promised compensation to Russian wounded in action. Russian leadership is considering limiting compensation payments to only Russian personnel who incurred major injuries. It is likely already occurring unofficially  as there has been an uptick in reports of headquarters “losing” the required proof of injury documents that would enable the injured to receive payments.

Video: General Staff’s Daily Video Digest with English subtitles

Above: Aljazeera

Ukrainian General Staff of the Armed Forces estimated enemy losses since February 24, 2022 (with daily additions)

• Liquidated personnel, 112,470 (+710)
• Tanks, 3,084 (+4)
• Armored personnel vehicles, 6,154 (+7)
• Artillery systems/MLRS, 2,073/434 (+4/0)
• Anti-aircraft warfare systems, 217 (0)
• Aircraft/helicopters, 285/275 (0)
• UAV operational-tactical level, 1,860 (+4)
• Cruise missiles, 723 (0)
• Warships/boats, 17 (+1)
• Vehicles and fuel tanks, 4,817 (+8)
• Special equipment, 183 (0)

Above: Soledar, Donetsk. (Novosti Donbasu)

Glory to Ukraine! The three hundred and twenty-first day of the Russian large-scale invasion has begun.

• The russian invaders continue to wage full-scale armed aggression against our state. They do not stop striking, carrying out artillery attacks on critical infrastructure and civilian homes on the territory of Ukraine, thereby violating the norms of International Humanitarian Law, laws and customs of warfare.
• During the past day, the enemy launched 8 missile and 31 air strikes. He carried out 63 attacks from rocket salvo systems, including on the civilian infrastructure of the cities of Kharkiv, Kherson, Kramatorsk in the Donetsk region and Ochakiv in the Mykolaiv There are victims among the civilian population.
• The threat of enemy air and missile strikes on critical infrastructure remains throughout Ukraine.
• The enemy is conducting offensive operations in the Bakhmut, Avdiiv and Lyman directions, and is trying to improve the tactical position in the Kupyansk He concentrates his efforts on capturing the Donetsk region within the administrative border, without success.
• Over the past 24 hours, units of the Defense Forces repelled the attacks of the occupiers in the areas of the settlements of Bilogorivka, Chervonopivka, Kuzmine, Luhansk Region, and Soledar, Bilogorivka, Pidgorodne, Bakhmut, Klishchiivka, Vodyane, Kurdyumivka, Mayorsk, Maryinka, and Pobieda, Donetsk
• On the Siverskyi and Slobozhanskyi directions, the enemy fired at the positions of our troops and civilian objects in the areas of Bucha settlements of the Chernihiv region; Starykov, Shalygine, Volfyne, Popivka, Basivka and Petrushyvka in the Sumy region and Strelecha, Zelene, Ambarne and Gatishche in the Kharkiv
• In the Kupyansk and Lymansk directions, the enemy shelled the areas of 22 settlements with tanks, mortars, barrel and rocket artillery. Among them are Dvorichna, Kupyansk, Kislivka, Kotlyarivka and Krokhmalne of the Kharkiv region and Stelmakhivka, Makiivka, Ploshanka and Dibrova of the Luhansk
• In the direction of Bakhmut, the enemy shelled the areas of more than 25 settlements. In particular, Spirne, Berestov, Bilogorivka, Soledar and Bakhmut of the Donetsk
• Avdiivka, Vesele, Nevelske, Krasnohorivka, Georgiivka, Maryinka and Novomykhailivka of the Donetsk region were affected by fire in the Avdiiv region.
• Vremivka, Velika Novosilka and Vugledar in Donetsk region were shelled in the Novopavlovsk direction.
• In the Zaporizhzhia direction, areas of 21 settlements were affected by fire. Among them are Zelene Pole and Novopil of the Donetsk region and Gulyaipole, Gulyaipilske, Charivne, Shcherbaki and Stepove in Zaporizhzhia.
• In the Kherson direction, the civilian infrastructure of Chornobayivka, Antonivka, Zolotaya Balka and Kherson was damaged by enemy artillery shelling.

Support the Armed Forces! Together we will win! Glory to Ukraine!

Above:  Civilian casualties resulted from enemy shelling of a market in Kharkiv city this morning. (Kharkiv Times)

• Russian and Ukrainian forces continued offensive operations along the Svatove-Kreminna line on January 8 and 9. Ukrainian troops repelled Russian attacks on Stelmakhivka (15km northwest of Svatove) on both January 8 and 9.
• Heavy fighting is ongoing near Kreminna and Russian forces transferred several paratrooper battalions and heavy equipment to the area in order to hold their line of defense. Geolocated combat footage shows a duel between Russian and Ukrainian tanks southwest of Kreminna, indicating that Ukrainian troops have likely made gains in the forest area west of Kreminna.
• Ukrainian partisans may be targeting Russian assets along critical ground lines of communications (GLOCs) in rear areas of Luhansk Oblast. Unidentified actors mined a gas pipeline near Lutuhyne (20km southwest of Luhansk City along the H21 highway), causing an explosion that left 13,000 people without gas.
• Russian occupation authorities are continuing to block entrance and exit from some settlements in Luhansk Oblast and arrest residents whom they have accused of assisting the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
• Russian occupation authorities require that residents in Luhansk Oblast hold a Russian passport in order to receive car registration documents, license plates, and driver’s licenses.
• Russian occupation authorities are removing pregnant women from a maternity hospital in Antracyty, Luhansk Oblast, and converting the facility into a military hospital.

Map: Fighting is intense in Soledar with Wagner mercenaries throwing everything they have into the grinder. (BBC)

• Wagner mercenaries are highly likely to control most of the salt-mining town of Soledar, Donetsk, according to the UK’s Ministry of Defence.
• Russian forces continued ground attacks south of Bakhmut and within Bakhmut itself on January 8 and 9. Ukrainian troops repelled Russian attacks on Bakhmut, Klishchiivka (7km southwest of Bakhmut), and Zalizne (25km southwest of Bakhmut) on January 8 and 9.
• Russian forces continued ground attacks along the western outskirts of Donetsk City on January 8 and 9.
• The Donetsk People’s Republic (DNR) People’s Militia posted footage on January 9 of the 5th DNR Brigade firing incendiary munitions at a Ukrainian force concentration in Marinka. The 1980 Protocol III on Incendiary Weapons of the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons restricts use of incendiary weapons as a means or method of warfare during armed conflict.
• The occupiers continue to carry out measures to forcibly mobilize the local population in temporarily occupied territories. So, in Horlivka, Donetsk region, during another raid, up to 30 people were mobilized, 4 of them with disabilities.
• Russian occupation authorities plan to bring approximately 50,000 Russian civilians to Mariupol from Russia.

Above: Screenshot of video from Ukrainian helicopters operating in the south. (Sky News)

• Russian forces continue to move military personnel equipment to Henichesk Raion near the Kherson-Crimea border and are preparing to defend Crimea.
• Russian forces continued to construct defensive fortifications and transport military equipment in Zaporizhia Oblast amid continued concerns over a possible Ukrainian counteroffensive in the area, building defensive fortifications southwest of Melitopol towards Crimea, including dragon’s teeth anti-tank fortifications on the E105 Melitopol-Dzhankoy highway.
• Ukrainian forces continued to target Russian military assets in southern Ukraine possibly related to explosions at the Hidromash factory in Melitopol, Zaporizhia Oblast. There is evidence that Ukrainian forces struck two Russian ammunition depots in Melitopol.
• Russian occupation authorities will begin issuing passes allowing residents to move throughout Zaporizhia Oblast on January 9. Zaporizhia Oblast residents and organizations must submit an application and provide documents verifying vehicle ownership to a military commandant’s office in Melitopol, Tokmak, or Berdyansk, Zaporizhia Oblast, to receive the required passes.
• Russian occupation authorities in Henichesk, Kherson Oblast, are removing ATM terminals from businesses to prevent residents from acquiring the hryvnia, as well as threatening to confiscate the property of local businesses if they are found accepting the hryvnia.

Video: The enemy continues its sadistic attacks on the people of Kherson, shelling a residential district with incendiary munitions overnight. 

Video: “Ukrainian MI-8s convey greetings to russian swine in Bakhmut-Soledar”

🇺🇦🚁✌️🐷🐶🚀
Українські Мі-8 передають вітання російським свиням у Бахмут – Соледар pic.twitter.com/201jjMiUxf

— Bonya (@BonyaMy) January 7, 2023