Day 319: January 08As 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 breach 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 fist, returned control over Artyomsol tourist and sanatorium areas, and pushed the Russians back to the eastern part of the city. 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, geolocated footage from the region showed the presence of a Wagner Group fighter at the Artyomsol tourist area in central Soledar. The Russians tried to expand control over the region and started attacking Ukrainian positions near the Salt Mines 1-3. Despite these attacks, Ukrainian forces have been able to hold their ground and repel the advances of the Russian forces. As the Russians transferred more Wagner forces to the Soledar area, the Ukrainians responded reciprocally. According to 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 right now the Russians have no opportunity to go into the residential area. A Ukrainian military correspondent posted a geolocated picture of himself in front of the Soledar Salt Mine, indicating that 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. The Ukrainian General Staff has 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. When it comes to the area around Soledar, the Russians continued conducting combat reconnaissance operations in an effort to set conditions for attacking 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 Krasnopolivka and Sil station. Ukrainian sources reported that the Russians were repelled, never reaching the approaches, while Russian sources claim that the operation was successful as they established control over the Yurchina Mount and now have direct fire control over a section of a highway to Blahodatne. However, this is highly doubtful, especially given that Russian sources themselves also report on Ukrainian airstrikes. A Russian source reported that the Ukrainians are using five Su-25s and two MiG-29s tactical aircraft to fire at the offensive areas of the Russian Forces in the Soledar area, in particular Yurchina Mount.Overall, the Ukrainians restored full control over their main defense line inside Soledar, and they have reportedly conducted more counterattacks 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 that the Russians are given no chance to advance towards the Ukrainian flanks.