The likely capture of Soledar by Russian troops on January 11 is not an operationally significant event, but it hardly portends the inevitable Russian cordon of Bakhmut, experts at the Institute for the Study of War say.

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Geolocation footage released on January 11 and 12 shows that Russian forces likely control most if not all of Soledar and have likely driven Ukrainian forces from the western outskirts of the town.

The Ukrainian General Staff on the eve reported that Ukrainian forces repelled Russian attacks on Sol in the Donetsk region - a settlement a kilometer northwest of Soledar and on previous Ukrainian positions.

Ukrainian senior military sources largely did not report that Ukrainian forces repelled Russian attacks on Soledar on January 12, as they had previously done..

Russian sources claimed that as of January 12, Russian forces were still fighting off Soledar from Ukrainian forces..

On January 12, Russian military observers published footage showing Wagner PIK fighters walking around Soledar, claiming they visited the settlements with Russian troops. The Russian Ministry of Defense did not report that Russian troops had captured Soledar, but Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov congratulated Russian troops on "

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All available evidence suggests that Ukrainian forces do not yet maintain an organized defense in Soledar.

President Volodymyr Zelensky's January 12 statement that Ukrainian forces are maintaining positions in Soledar may be referring to defensive positions near.

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Russian information operations exaggerate the importance of Soledar.

Russian information operations exaggerate the importance of Soledar, which at best is only a tactical victory. The ISW continues to assess that capturing Soledar, a population center of less than 5.5 square miles, would prevent Russian forces from controlling critical Ukrainian land lines of communication (GLOCs) with Bakhmut, nor would it improve the position of Russian troops to cordon off the city for a short time..

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Moscow spent significant resources on a very debilitating tactical victory.

Russian forces likely captured Soledar after spending considerable resources on a very debilitating tactical victory that would hasten the likely culmination of Russian exhaustion at Bakhmut. Kremlin troops may decide to maintain a consistently high pace of offensive in the Bakhmut area,.