DebbyParkway:
'The entire town is littered with bodies': how Ukraine suffered a humiliating defeat in Soledar after a relentless Russian assault


This marks Russia’s first major victory since the withdrawals from Balakleya, Krasny Liman and Kherson.

Fighters from the Wagner Group have completely surrounded the Donbass town of Soledar and are now clearing the extensive tunnel network in the town's salt mines, the head of private military company, Evgeny Prigozhin, claimed.

The news came after weeks of intense battles in an area which sources from both sides, but especially those which are pro-Kiev, have described as a "meat grinder." Despite the sustained, albeit slow, Russian advance, the Ukrainian authorities had chosen not to retreat at the cost of tremendous losses.

“I want to repeat that Soledar has been fully liberated and cleared of Ukrainian army units,” Prigozhin said in a statement on Wednesday evening. “The Ukrainian troops that refused to surrender have been destroyed.”

This is Russia’s first major victory since the withdrawals from Balakleya, Krasny Liman and Kherson and it’s important for boosting the morale of the troops. It is certainly a bitter pill for the Ukrainian Army. Whether we can expect Kiev to try and adapt to the new situation and look for out-of-the-box solutions remains to be seen. All we know now is that President Zelensky keeps promising the Ukrainian people he will recapture all of Donbass even though his troops are retreating.

By Vladislav Ugolny, a Russian journalist based in Donetsk

blackboy:
An Independent country is being invaded and destroyed and its yound men, women and children are being killed by soldiers of its neighbouring country because they have a power hungry and drunk president who only has daughters and non of hia children are in the army. Those of us supporting this aggression and blood shed is because of hate for USA or the West. I pray Comeroon will not do what Russia is doing Ukraine to Nigeria or any of our neighbours.
What is wrong is wrong

what are the tears about? Whenever NATO and their puppet are exposed as the noisemaking fraudulent and hypocritical White Elephants that they are on the Battlefield, ProNazi e-analysts immediately turn to motivational speakers and moral Policemen.. Na now the War Start??

Breaking:
Chechen fighters storm and seize Ukrainian fortified post near Maryinka

Fighters of a special Chechen military unit stormed and seized a fortified post of the Ukrainian armed forces near the city of Maryinka and captured a large number of Ukrainian servicemen, Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov has said on his Telegram channel.

"Fighters of the Sever-Akhmat special purpose regiment named after Hero of Russia Akhmad-Khadzhi Kadyrov have stormed a defended post, including fortifications. A major part of the adversary’s personnel has been killed, a significant number of Ukrainian servicemen have been captured," Kadyrov wrote late on Tuesday.

In his words, the defended post was set up in an advantageous position and included a line of trenchworks and defended firing positions.

"The seizure of this fortified post is a brilliant result achieved by our fighters. This fortified position was strategically important, and its seizure is a serious success on the Maryinka front," he added.

. Russian troops supported by combat aircraft, missile troops and artillery liberated the community of Sol in the Donetsk People’s Republic during the special military operation in Ukraine, Defense Ministry Spokesman Lieutenant-General Igor Konashenkov reported on Wednesday.

"In the Donetsk direction, volunteers of assault units, supported by operational-tactical and army aircraft, missile troops and artillery of the Southern Military District, liberated the community of Sol in the Donetsk People’s Republic," the spokesman said.

Saudi Arabia ready to ditch dollar in trade – Finance Minister
Shift from US to Chinese currency has previously been discussed between Beijing and Riyadh.


I'll create a new thread for this later.

Saudi Arabia is ready to discuss trading in currencies other than the US dollar, according to the Kingdom’s finance minister Mohammed Al-Jadaan, as cited by Bloomberg.

Al-Jadaan's comments come a month after China’s President Xi Jinping said that Beijing is ready to make energy purchases in yuan instead of the US dollar in trade exchanges with members of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). China's leader highlighted the necessity of the shift while speaking at a Chinese-Arab summit hosted by Saudi Arabia earlier this week.

The oil-rich kingdom is seeking to deepen its ties with vital trade partners, including China. The readiness for talks on the issue expressed by Riyadh may signal that the world’s biggest oil exporter is open to diversifying away from the US dollar after decades of pricing crude exports in the US currency. The riyal, the Saudi national currency, has been pegged to the greenback, too.

The trend towards the shift to national currencies that is recently being observed among the major participants in global trade chains is partially attributed to the policies of secondary sanctions that Washington is pursuing. Initially, the steps towards ditching the US currency in trade, particularly in the energy sector, were intensified in the wake of the sweeping sanctions introduced by Western nations against Russia, one of the world’s major energy producers and exporters, over the military operation in Ukraine.

South Africa Says BRICS Mulling New Payment System to Ditch Dollar Control

The BRICS club of emerging economies wants to find a way of bypassing the dollar to create a fairer payment system that would not be skewed toward wealthier countries, South African Foreign Minister Naledi Pandor told Sputnik.

"We have always been concerned by the fact that there is a dominance of the dollar and that we do need to look at alternative… The systems currently in place tend to privilege very wealthy countries and tend to be really a challenge for countries, such as ourselves, which have to make payments in dollars which costs much more in terms of our various currencies. So I do think a fairer system has to be developed and it's something we're discussing with the BRICS ministers in the economic sector discussions," she said.

"BRICS has a number of sectoral committees that look at issues of politics and security, the economy and people-to-people exchange, and within the economic context we are looking at how the NDB (New Development Bank) and other institutional formations may assist us to develop a fairer system of monetary exchange," she explained.

DebbyParkway:
Wagner Group fighters liberate community near Artyomovsk in Donetsk advance

Wagner Group troops have captured the strategic village of Klescheevka in Russia’s Donetsk Region from the Ukrainian forces, the head of the private military company Yevgeny Prigozhin has said.

“One can safely say that the settlement of Kleshcheevka, which is one of the important suburbs of Bakhmut (called Artymovsk in Russia), has been completely taken under control by the Wagner PMC units,” Prigozhin said in a statement distributed by his press service on Thursday.

But while Kleshcheevka has been “liberated,” intense fighting continues around the settlement, with “the opponent clinging on to every meter of land,” he pointed out.

The Russian Defense Ministry hasn’t yet commented on the situation in Kleshcheevka.

“Contrary to some opinions that the Armed Forces of Ukraine are fleeing Artyomovsk, this is not the case,” Prigozhin said, but still expressed confidence that Artyomovsk, which is a major Ukrainian stronghold and logistics hub “will be captured.”

Klescheevka is located around 9km southwest of Bakhmut. The village, which was populated by just over 500 people before the conflict, had been heavily fortified by the Ukrainian military.

The claimed capture of Klescheevka follows the Russian takeover of the key town of Soledar last week and several other settlements in the area as part of the operation to encircle Artyomovsk.

The Russia Defense Ministry praised “the courageous and selfless actions” of the Wagner Group’s strike teams during the battle for Soledar, put pointed out that victory was achieved by a “mixed group of forces,” including aviation and artillery units.

Late last year, the US Department of Commerce labeled the Wagner Group “one of the most notorious mercenary organizations in the world” and put it on the Military End User List, which could potentially restrict the company’s access to any technology made with American equipment anywhere in the world.

Prigozhin ironically reacted to the move by saying that it’ll definitely make it tougher for the Wagner Group to get ammo and repair the M-777 howitzers and other US-supplied weapons that its troops have alleged seized from the Ukrainian forces.

Russian forces have taken operational control of four settlements near the city of Orekhov in the Zaporozhye Region, Chairman of the We Stand With Russian movement Vladimir Rogov told TASS on Thursday.

"Four settlements have been taken under operational control in an Orekhov suburb. This is a local success," he pointed out.

Rogov emphasized that according to intercepted communications, Ukrainian troops stationed in the area were facing artillery and drone shortages, which could force them to retreat.

The city of Orekhov is located in the Kiev-controlled part of the Zaporozhye Region close to the line of contact. Ukraine earlier lost control of 70% of the region.

Russian forces have liberated Kleshcheyevka, a suburb of Artymovsk (known as Bakhmut in Ukraine) in the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR), the DPR territorial defense headquarters reported on Friday.

"As of January 20, Russian troops have liberated Kleshcheyevka on DPR territory," the headquarters said on their Telegram channel.

The locality of Kleshcheyevka has been placed under full control of Wagner units, the private military company quoted its founder Yevgeny Prigozhin as saying on Thursday.

Earlier, Colonel Vitaly Kiselyov, a military expert from the Lugansk People’s Republic, said control of Kleshcheyevka, located south of Artyomovsk, would play a strategic role in intensifying the offensive toward the city.