“NEW: The UK is considering supplying Ukraine with British tanks for the first time to fight Russia’s invading forces,
@SkyNews understands.
Discussions have been taking place “for a few weeks” about delivering a number of the British Army’s Challenger 2 main battle tank to the Ukrainian armed forces, a western source with knowledge of the conversations said. 2/
Such a move – if given the greenlight – would mark a significant step up in western support to Ukraine and could help prompt other NATO allies, in particular Germany, to follow suit. “It would encourage others to give tanks,” a Ukrainian source said. 3/
No final decision has yet been made by Rishi Sunak’s government, but if the UK did sign off on such a delivery it would become the first nation to respond to pleas from Ukrainian leaders to equip their military with powerful western tanks. 4/
A US-led grouping of some 50 nations – including the UK – that is delivering military support to Ukraine is due to hold its next meeting on 20 January. Any announcements about new assistance, such as tanks, could be made to coincide with the Contact Group gathering. 5/
One source suggested Britain might offer around 10 Challenger 2 tanks – enough to equip a squadron. 6/
The source said this in itself would not be a “game changer” but it would still be significant because the move would breach a barrier that has so far prevented allies from offering up western tanks to Ukraine for fear of being seen as overly escalatory by Russia. 7/”
https://news.sky.com/story/uk-considering-supplying-ukraine-with-challenger-2-tanks-to-fight-russian-forces-12783107
Ukraine: military situation update with maps, Jan 8, 2023
(’Orc’ is associated with the various hoards of 13th century Mongol invaders, as well as LOTR evil villains)
War in Ukraine Explained/Reporting from Ukraine:
https://www.youtube.com/@RFU
Artillery (key to success in this war), Fuller explanation of Orc military structure, Other Bonus articles - see previous postings in “Attack on Europe” (FR title search).
(Numbered printed material below - Some of the items below may be out of date, and not updated yet)
••Denotes Transcribed Dialogue. The entirety of the analysis is from a Ukrainian guy named Reporting from Ukraine’s daily video - I only transcribe it. Extras are just that - from other sites, or my comments marked (Edit: .... ) or { } or [ ].
-—> Current to date and past MAPS: <——
https://militaryland.net/
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••Day 319.
Today there is some good news: as you know over the last several days the situation in the vicinity of Soledar has been very tense.
The Russians tried to capitalize on the Ukrainian tactical retreat and bridge the Ukrainian defense, using momentum. They conducted a heavy assault on the salt mines area in the central part of the city and managed to get a toehold there.
However, today the Ukrainians prepared an attack to the east returning control over the atrium and tourists and sanatorium areas and pushed the Russians back to the eastern part of the city and this is how it happened.
Last time I told you that the Russians reached the Ukrainian defense line, but did not breach it. The Russians largely continued to operate in the buffer zones to the south and east of Soledar.
Also geo-located footage from the region showed the presence of a Wagner group fighters at the atrium and tourist area in central Soledar.
The Russians tried to expand control over the region and started attacking Ukrainian positions near the salt mines 1 to 3.
Despite these attacks Ukrainian forces have been able to hold the ground and repel the advances of the Russian forces.
As the Russian forces decreased the number of attacks around Bakhmut, they transferred more Wagner forces northward to the Soledar area and opened more lines of attacks here, the Ukrainians responded reciprocally.
According to the recent reports the Ukrainian military has transferred two additional platoons to the area to ensure the stability of the situation.
After that, the Ukrainian 46th Airmobile Brigade launched a counter-attack over the night with the goal of restoring control over the tourist area and railways.
As a result, they regained lost positions to the north of the railways, so now the Russians have no opportunity to go into the residential area.
A Ukrainian military correspondent posted a geo-located picture of himself in front of the Soledar salt mines, indicating that the Ukrainian troops are now in control of this part of the settlement and continue to repel Russian attacks towards the mines.
A spokesperson for the Ukrainian Eastern group of forces emphasized that Ukrainian troops are not withdrawing from Soledar.
A Ukrainian General also reported that Ukrainian troops are successfully defending the settlement. Russian analysts provide a similar evaluation of the situation. They largely agree that at the moment there is no evidence of the withdrawal of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
Some sources also say that the Ukrainians attacked Russian checkpoints in the eastern part of the city, but further details will be known later.
When it comes to the area around Soledar, the Russians continued conducting combat reconnaissance operations in an effort to set conditions for taking Ukrainian flanks.
First of all, the Russians continued fixing Ukrainian troops from the north, in order to assault other settlements on the line, and today they tried to advance in the direction of Krsnopolivka.
Ukrainian sources reported that the Russians were repelled, never reaching the approaches. While Russian sources claimed that the operation was successful, as they established control over the mound and now have direct fire control over a section of a highway to Blahodatne.
If you look at the 3D map we can see that the slope of the mount can hardly be detected the Russians have been moving here relatively freely since they captured Yakovlivka.
So the only new achievement could have been establishing a permanent presence in the region. However, this is highly doubtful, especially given that Russian sources themselves also report on Ukrainian air strikes
A Russian Source reported that the Ukrainians are using SU-25s and 2 MiG-29’s tactical aircraft to fire at the offensive areas of the Russian forces in the Soledar area, in particular the mound.
Lastly, some sources indicate that the Wagner forces are fighting on the streets in Krasna Hora, and that they have taken complete control of Pidhorodne.
The Institute for the Study of War assessed the situation and concluded that there are not enough observable confirmations to corroborate these extensive claims. So no changes to the frontline happened here.
Overall, the Ukrainians restored full control over their main defense line inside Soledar and they have reportedly conducted more counter-attacks east of the city.
Such actions signify that the Ukrainians attempted to break the momentum of Russian advances along the entire perimeter which should result in faster stabilization of the front line.
On top of that heavy engagement of aviation in the region strongly suggests the directions are given no chance to advance towards the Ukrainian flanks.
