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Soledar claim and a Russian command reshuffle
Summary
A retrospective on 13 January 2023, when Moscow declared Soledar captured, Kyiv denied it, and Russia's war command had just changed hands.
What did Russia claim on 13 January 2023, and how much of it did Ukraine accept? On that date, Russia's defence ministry said its forces had taken full control of Soledar in Donetsk Oblast. Ukraine denied that the city, and its salt mines, had fallen, and said the battle was still under way.
The fighting around Soledar was part of the wider Battle of Donbas in the Russo-Ukrainian war, a series of military engagements in and around the urban-type settlement. The two accounts of 13 January could not be reconciled: one side announced a conclusion, the other insisted the contest continued.
A command change two days earlier
The claim came just after a shake-up at the top of Russia's war effort. On 11 January 2023, Valery Gerasimov, Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces, was appointed commander of the Joint Group of Forces taking part in the war with Ukraine.
The three generals who had previously held that position became his deputies: Oleg Salyukov, Alexei Kim and Sergei Surovikin. The appointment placed the chief of the General Staff directly at the head of the grouping.
What the day showed
Taken together, the two developments framed 13 January 2023. Russia's military leadership had been rearranged only 48 hours earlier, and its defence ministry was now announcing control of a Donetsk Oblast town. Ukraine publicly rejected that announcement and maintained that its forces were still fighting for Soledar.
