Russia-Ukraine war: List of key events, day 322

A man pushes his bicycle past tank traps and rubble on a street in Bakhmut, Donetsk region [File: Dimitar Dilkoff/AFP]

Here is the situation as it stands on Wednesday, January 11, 2023:

Fighting

• The head of Russia’s mercenary group, Wagner, Yevgeny Prigozhin, says his fighters have taken control of the town of Soledar in eastern Ukraine after intense fighting this week, but some “urban battles” continued.
• The British defence ministry has said Russian troops and Wagner fighters are probably in control of most of Soledar after four days of advances.
• Earlier, some prominent Russian military bloggers urged caution about the situation in Soledar and said intense combat in the town’s centre and its outskirts continued during the night.

Smoke rises from strikes on the front-line city of Soledar as Russia’s attack on Ukraine continues. Seen from Bakhmut, Ukraine [Clodagh Kilcoyne/Reuters]

Weapons

• Poland’s President Andrzej Duda has met with some of his ministers, including the prime minister, to discuss security issues amid the war in neighbouring Ukraine, including Kyiv’s request for Western-made heavy battle tanks.
• President Vladimir Putin’s defence minister has pledged to build a deeper arsenal, bolster aviation technology to better evade air defences and improve drone production after a series of battlefield humiliations in Ukraine.
• Ukraine’s foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba says Berlin needs to supply his military with Leopard tanks, during a visit from his German counterpart, Annalena Baerbock, to the war-battered eastern city of Kharkiv.
• The United States will train Ukrainian personnel at a base in the state of Oklahoma on how to use and maintain the advanced Patriot air defence system Washington is giving Kyiv, the Pentagon has confirmed.

Diplomacy

• German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock visited the northeastern city of Kharkiv and pledged further support for Kyiv, but Ukraine’s top diplomat Dmytro Kuleba said Berlin’s refusal to send his country battle tanks was costing lives.
• Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has said his government would purchase a US air defence system to donate to Ukraine.
• President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has invited Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar to visit Ukraine “at a future opportunity”.
• The Ukrainian president has said he had revoked the citizenship of Viktor Medvedchuk, once seen as Russian leader Vladimir Putin’s top ally in Kyiv and accused of high treason. Three other people were also stripped of their citizenship.