The Russian Ministry of Defense (MoD) announced that Russian Aviation and Artillery destroyed two US missile launchers near the city of Kramatorsk, DPR, earlier today.

"US-made M142 HIMARS [High Mobility Artillery Rocket System] and M270 MLRS [Multiple Launch Rocket System] missile launchers were destroyed near the city of Kramatorsk in the Donetsk People's Republic," the statement read.

The MoD reported that operational-tactical aircraft, missile, and artillery units of the Russian armed forces targeted 78 artillery units at firing positions in total, as well as personnel and military gear in 105 various locations.

The ministry further claimed that three Ukrainian military missile and artillery weapon storage units in the DPR's Malynivka and Avdiivka and Zaporizhzhia's Druzhelyubivka regions had also been attacked.

Wagner musicians captured Nikolaevka, north of Soledar. Looks like they’re consolidating their control around the area. pic.twitter.com/vuZM5DLuf0

— LogKa (@LogKa11) February 2, 2023

Yevgeny Prigozhin, the founder of the Wagner group, announced that the town of Mykolaivka in the Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) had been taken under control.

A Telegram channel cited Prigozhin declaring that "during the fighting, units of the Wagner PMC captured the settlement of Mykolaivka." 

Russian troops enter Vuhledar, block Ukrainian arms supply path

Late in January 2023, the advisor to the acting head of the DPR, Igor Kimakovsky, confirmed that Russian troops have entered and surrounded the city of Vuhledar in the DPR.

"They entered and gained ground along the outskirts [of Vuhledar], thereby blocking the enemy's forces. Our artillery is attacking the enemy, who is trying to counterattack," he said on the Solovyev Live radio show, adding that their objective is to take Vuhledar "in pincers" just like they did in Soledar.  "This tactic is paying off," he added.

Another advisor to the DPR's acting head, Yan Gagin, relayed to the Russia-1 state broadcaster that the highway connecting the village of Pokrovske to Vuhledar is now under Russian control.

Although Russian troops were able to take over the city's outskirts, it proves complicated as it is surrounded by mines with underground infrastructure like Soledar and Mariupol, but the advisor simultaneously suggested that the takeover will impede Ukrainian encroachment and ammunition supply to the area - where they fire their strikes against the city of Donetsk. 

"The Vuhledar direction is the Donetsk sector of the front. The cities of Avdiivka and Marinka are located nearby. By taking Vuhledar, we can cut off the ammunition supply in this direction, as it is precisely from where [Ukrainian troops] strike at Donetsk. In addition, it will be possible to inflict both frontal and flanking attacks already from Vuhledar," Gagin added.

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