Day 324: January 13After the Ukrainians pulled back to the railway embankment and assumed their new defensive positions that are detached from the city, the Russians could no longer maintain the same level of intensity of their attacks. Today the Russians launched a series of assaults in the direction of Salt Mines and Sil station, but they got caught in the crossfire from multiple Ukrainian positions and eventually were destroyed. There are a lot of problems associated with storming these fortifications, and here is why.Local geography allows the Russians to attack Sil station only from the southeast because there is a small forest and a garden in this area that helps to conceal their troops during the attacks. The Ukrainians are maintaining their positions on the outskirts, and in order to get to the Ukrainian side, the Russians would need to cross an open field, and what complicates this situation a lot for the Russians is that the Ukrainians in the Salt Mines have fire control over this segment of the ground. The only way to avoid it is to attempt to enter the Sil station a bit to the north. However, if we look at the topographic map, we can see that the Russians would emerge from behind the hill and expose themselves to the fire from Krasnopolivka. This significantly complicates the situation for the Russians, as their attacks will always be countered from two sides: either Krasnopolivka and Sil station or Salt Mines and Sil station. In order to alleviate their tactical disadvantage, the Russians have established their positions on the local heights along the tree belts 2 km away from Krasnopolivka. This way, they can try to fix Ukrainian troops in Krasnopolivka and keep them busy while another group is trying to attack Sil station from the southeast. And this is exactly what happened here today. Ukrainian General Staff reported that the Russians had fired at Krasnopolivka and assaulted Sil station. However, the assault group was repelled, and the Ukrainians remained in full control over this region.When it comes to the Salt Mines, local geography and infrastructure allow the Russians to attack them only from the south because there is a small river and an open field to the north of it. Some sources indicate that the Russians only control this block of buildings because when they move to the outer streets to the north, for example, not only are they close to the main Ukrainian base, but they are also under fire control of the Ukrainians in Sil station. The outer streets to the west are also under fire control of the Ukrainians. If we look at the topographic map, we can see that both Blahodante and these positions are at the same elevation, and given that the street faces Blahodatne almost directly, the Ukrainians have almost all of it in direct vision. Similarly to what we saw with Krasnopolivka, the Russians are trying to undermine the ability of the Ukrainians to work synergistically. In order to achieve this goal, they have established their positions in the small forest on the outer part of the hill that they control. From this positons, they are firing at the Ukrainians in Blahodatne in order to increase the chances of success of their attack groups in Soledar. Unfortunately for the Russians, this did not work out very well. Today the Russians attempted to attack the Salt Mines from the south, assuming that they would be covered, but the Russians on the hill failed to do their job, and the attack group was destroyed. The reason why the Russians in this small forest were unable to maintain a constant fire is that the Ukrainians employed a counter-fire from Krasna Hora. The outskirts of Krasna Hora are located only 600 meters from the Russians in the forest, which does not allow the Russians to move freely in this region, and makes them the targets of immediate drone attacks.