The russian propaganda agency "tass" informed that the minister of defence of the russian federation serhii shoihu had stated at a conference call about the complete control by the occupying army over the settlements of Soledar, Klishchiivka, Krasnopillia, Blahodatne, Mykolaivka (Donetsk region) and Pidhirne, Lobkove (Zaporizhzhia region). He also mentioned the "successful" development of hostilities under Bakhmut and Vuhledar, and emphasized that all the mentioned "achievements" are the result of actions of the russia’s armed forces.

At the same time, shoihu deliberately did not mention the fact that the forces of the private military company “Wagner” were actively involved in all the indicated areas to conduct the hostilities. Instead, the regular russian army plays only an episodic role of “support forces”. This information is suppressed by the russian propaganda media, which indicates the continuation of the conflict among the military and political leadership of russia.

It should be also noted that the Ukrainian troops withdrew from the town of Soledar on January 25, which was officially reported by the command of the Armed Forces.

As for other settlements, their capture by the enemy is currently not confirmed. The Defence Forces of Ukraine continue protection in each of the mentioned direction.

This is to remind that at the beginning of this year, military command of the aggressor state prepared a special document, which exactly defines how kremlin propagandists should cover the events on the battle field. The main content of “general recommendations” was to emphasize “prominent role” of the leadership of the russia’s armed forces, particularly, shoihu and herasymov. In fact, this document imposes ban to mention “Wagner” PMC and yevhen prihozhyn personally.