January 14, 2023 Russia-Ukraine news

The founder and head of Wagner, Yevgeny Prigozhin, posted a video Saturday claiming he visited Soledar after it was taken over by his mercenaries "in two weeks."

Kyiv has disputed Wagner's claim that it now controls the small town, which holds significant symbolic value but is not considered strategically pivotal. The town has also caused infighting between Prigozhin's private forces and Russia's Defense Ministry over who deserves credit for the assault.

In the video, the Wagner mercenary leader said he came to town to award medals to his fighters — who he says were almost exclusively responsible for capturing Soledar.

The video shows Prigozhin standing with a man who he calls “a commander who helped to take over Soledar.”

According to Prigozhin, Ukrainian soldiers who refused to surrender were killed. He said, “the bodies of Ukrainian soldiers will be sent back to their motherland.”

The private military contractor has heavily recruited from Russian prisons over the last nine months. Previously it has deployed contingents to Syria and several African countries. 

Prigozhin credited what he described as a wealth of fighting equipment and communications systems for giving his force an edge in battle.

What Ukraine is saying: Kyiv's military has said that Wagner fighters, some without body armor and carrying only grenades, have been killed in their hundreds after launching one assault after another against Soledar. 

The Ukrainian military said late Saturday that heavy battles for the town continue, with one regional leader describing the situation as "difficult but controlled."

More on Wagner's leader: Prigozhin has been an increasingly visible figure in the conflict in Ukraine, visiting Wagner fighters on the front line and meeting former convicts who have completed their six-month tour of duty with Wagner. Prigozhin had promised them that in return for fighting they would be pardoned and be able to return home, rather than to prison. 

He has frequently contrasted the achievements of his Wagner fighters with what he has criticized as the poor leadership of the military establishment in Russia — a rare example of open disagreement within Russia about the conduct of the Ukraine campaign.  

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said “Russian terror” can only be stopped on the battlefield in his nightly address Saturday. 

To achieve these aims, Zelensky said he was convinced Ukraine needs “weapons that are in the warehouses of our partners and that our troops are so waiting for.” 

Updates on today's bombardment: The Ukrainian president said “the most difficult situation is in Kharkiv region and Kyiv region” following Russian missile strikes earlier Saturday.

Zelensky also said that Ukrainian forces had shot down more than 20 Russian missiles on Saturday, of more than 30 fired on the country. “These are hundreds of saved lives,” he said. 

Earlier Saturday, Gen. Valeriy Zaluzhnyi, the commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, said Russia had “made about 28 launches of cruise missiles of various types and 5 launches of guided aircraft missiles."

Ukraine’s Defense Forces destroyed 18 of those cruise missiles and three guided aircraft missiles, Zaluzhnyi added.

Zelensky also commented on the deadly Russian missile strike against a residential apartment building in the city of Dnipro earlier Saturday.  

According to Zelensky “debris clearance is still ongoing and will continue throughout the night.” 

“It's not yet known how many people are under the rubble,” he added. “Unfortunately, the death toll is growing every hour.”

Nine people, including one teenager, were killed when a Russian missile hit an apartment block in the city of Dnipro Saturday, according to the deputy head of the Ukrainian president's office.

The teenager killed was a 15-year old girl, Kyrylo Tymoshenko said in an update on Telegram.

He said 37 people were rescued from the building, including 6 children, and 64 people were injured, including 14 children.

Search and rescue operations at the site continued into Saturday night.

The Ukrainian Air Force says the Russian missile that hit an apartment block in Dnipro Saturday, killing nine people and injuring dozens, was a Kh-22 — an older type of cruise missile that is a less accurate weapon than most modern missiles.

Yurii Ihnat, spokesman for the Ukrainian air force, said the Kh-22 "was fired from a Tu-22M3 long-range bomber, launched from the area near Kursk and the Sea of Azov."

"There were a total of five launches of these missiles," Ihnat said.

CNN reported last June that it was a Kh-22 that hit a shopping center in Kremenchuk in central Ukraine. 

Originally designed as an anti-ship missile, the Kh-22 carries a warhead of nearly one metric tonne. But Western analysts say it is only accurate to a radius of about 500 meters (about 1,600 feet).

The Russian Defense Ministry said the target in June was a facility that repaired military vehicles, which was several hundred meters from the shopping center. At least 18 people were killed in that attack.

Speaking of Saturday's attack, Ihnat said: "They hit with such a missile a densely populated city with people, women, children. There is no explanation and justification for this terrorist act." 

Russia has used the Kh-22 throughout its campaign in Ukraine, drawing on stocks estimated to be in the thousands. 

CNN has not independently verified the type of missile used in the strike.

The State Emergency Service of Ukraine said that one child was killed in the Russian missile strike on an apartment block in the central city of Dnipro.

"Five people died including one child," according to its Telegram account.

The SES also said 64 people, including 14 children, were injured.

Thirty-five people, including six children, were rescued from the wreckage, according to the SES.

The White House condemned Russia's latest bombardment of Ukraine on Saturday, which targeted utility infrastructure and led to at least five deaths, according to Ukrainian officials.

"The United States will continue to provide Ukraine with what it needs to defend itself, including air defense systems, along with our allies and partners – and we will continue our work to hold Russian forces accountable for their war crimes and atrocities. Russia continues to underestimate the strength and resolve of the Ukrainian people, and these latest attempts to demoralize them will fail yet again,” the spokesperson said. 

Some background: Last week, the US announced its largest aid package to Ukraine since the war began — $2.85 billion worth of US equipment, including 50 Bradley Fighting Vehicles, 500 TOW anti-tank missiles and tens of thousands of rounds of 25mm ammunition.

Ukrainian troops are also set to begin training on the Patriot missile system in the United States as soon as next week, the Pentagon announced earlier this week.

The Ukrainian military said the battle for the town of Soledar continue as Russian forces try to advance in several parts of the eastern Donetsk region.

The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine said late Saturday local time that "the enemy does not abandon its intentions to completely take over Donetsk region."

"To do so, it focuses its main efforts on offensive operations on Bakhmut direction. Heavy battles for Soledar continue," the military said.

Ukrainian forces recaptured Lyman at the end of September.

On Friday, Russia said its forces had taken Soledar following weeks of fierce fighting, but Ukraine has denied the claim.

The General Staff also said Russian units in parts of Donetsk were below strength because of recent casualties.

"The manning level of certain units of the 3rd separate motorized rifle brigade of the 1st army corps located in the vicinity of Horlivka (Donetsk region) remains low, up to 40 percent," it alleged.

In the south, according to the General Staff, the Russians are trying to strengthen their defense capabilities on the east bank of the Dnipro river in Kherson.

"The movement of personnel, weapons, military equipment, and ammunition is reported," the military said.

The number of people injured in a deadly Russian missile strike that hit an apartment block in the central Ukrainian city of Dnipro on Saturday has risen to almost 60, according to an official.

Valentyn Reznichenko, the head of the Dnipropetrovsk regional military administration, said 12 children are among the injured. The rescue operation at the site Dnipro continues.

At least five have been killed in the strike, Reznichenko said earlier.

The CEO of the Ukrainian state power company Ukrenergo says the country's power system suffered twelve waves of missile strikes Saturday.

"Unfortunately, energy facilities in 5 regions were hit," Volodymyr Kudrytskyi wrote on Facebook. "Power engineers are already working on the restoration."

Kudrytskyi said power plants and substations of Ukrenergo had been hit, but the "controllability and integrity of the power system was preserved."

"Coordinated work of the military and power engineers does not allow the enemy to achieve their main goal - to plunge the whole country into cold and darkness," the power CEO said.