Ukrainian officials say Russian forces launched new assaults in eastern Ukraine on January 9, hitting communities with constant shelling that killed civilians and destroyed homes even in towns that have been completely evacuated.
Serhiy Hayday, the regional governor in Ukraine's Luhansk region, said heavy fighting continues in the region from both the Kharkiv direction to the northwest and the Donetsk direction to the southwest.
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The town of Bilohorivka west of Lysychansk is constantly being attacked and shelled, Hayday said, adding that Ukrainian forces have improved their positions there slightly and are "firmly holding."
Russian forces are constantly shelling even de-occupied settlements, Hayday claimed. In the town of Novoselivka, Russian forces did not leave a single house intact, giving the impression that they were "deliberately shooting every house so that no one would be left alive," he said.
Hayday said there were 146 civilians in Novoselivska, and Russian troops know they are present but still continue shelling the settlement.
"Unfortunately, there are tragic cases. A few hours ago, as a result of such hostile shelling, two local residents were wounded and two died," he said on January 9.
Ukraine’s presidential office reported earlier that at least three civilians were killed and 12 others wounded over the previous 24 hours.
In the direction of Kreminna, a city about 10 kilometers north of Bilohorivka, Hayday said Russian troops were constantly raising new reserve units.
"But the positions of our military are strong enough [and] manage to de-occupy the territories of Luhansk region in the direction of Kreminna little by little," Hayday added.
The claims could not be independently verified.
Ukrainian officials also reported ongoing and powerful attacks by Russian forces on the key eastern town of Soledar.
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Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Malyar said after an unsuccessful attempt to capture it the enemy "regrouped, changed tactics, and launched a new, fierce attack."
Mainly members of the Russian mercenary group Vagner were involved, she said on Telegram.
"The enemy literally step over the corpses of their own soldiers, using massed artillery, MLRS systems, and mortars," Malyar said, referring to multiple-launch rocket systems and describing the attackers as drawn from the best reserves of the Vagner group, which was founded by Yevgeny Prigozhin, an ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The Defense Ministry said earlier that Russian forces "suffered significant losses" in the fighting "and once again retreated."
"The enemy again made a desperate attempt to storm the city of Soledar from different directions and threw the most professional Vagner units into battle," the ministry said in a post on Telegram.
This claim also could not be independently verified.
SEE ALSO: Marders, Leopards, Abrams, Bradleys: What's All This New Western Weaponry Being Sent (Or Not Sent) To Ukraine?Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said earlier the situation was difficult in Soledar and nearby Bakhmut but that his army still controls both towns.
The Russian Defense Ministry did not mention either Soledar or Bakhmut in a regular media briefing on January 9. The ministry's comments focused on an alleged attack on a vocational school in Kramatorsk that it said killed scores of Ukrainian troops on January 7. But AP reporters who visited the scene could find no evidence of a major attack and local officials told them that no troops had been killed there.
Bakhmut and Soledar lie in the Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine, which Putin claims to have annexed. Full control of it and the neighboring Luhansk region, the so-called Donbas, is Putin’s main priority at this stage in the war, analysts have said.
Russia's invasion, which is now in its 11th month, has caused the largest wave of refugees since World War II, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees reported on January 8.
"More than 7.9 million people have left the country, and another 5.9 million are internally displaced," said Katharina Lump, UNHCR representative in Germany.
The total number of refugees and internally displaced persons of nearly 14 million is more than a third of the country's total population of approximately 41 million.