The Ukrainian military has released video footage showing its forces destroying what they say is a Russian command center in the town of Soledar in a spectacular nighttime mission.

Volodymyr Zelenskyi with the Ukrainian commandPhoto: Office of the President of Ukraine / Zuma Press / Profimedia

The footage shows all the stages of the operation, which, according to Kyiv, took place in January: from the planning in the “war room” to the shelling of the Russian defenders and to the start of the action of the Ukrainian military.

While this is far from the first video released by the Ukrainian military of a spectacular mission by its troops (crossing the Dnipro to scout and destroy in Russian-occupied Kherson would be one of the most spectacular), new footage, recorded from both a drone and soldier level, which participated in the operation, provide a rare insight into how the Kyiv military command sees in real time what is happening during such an operation and the images they have at their disposal for adaptation.

This mission was carried out by the “Kraken” special unit of the Main Directorate of Intelligence in Kyiv, headed by General Kyrylo Budanov. In early March, this unit announced the destruction of an object in Russia, near the border with Ukraine.

It is not clear whether the attack shown in the new footage took place before or after the capture of the city of Soledar by the mercenaries of Yevhen Prigozhin’s PMK Wagner, who led the assault on the city in the Donetsk region.

Kyiv is believed to have withdrawn its last troops from Soledar in mid-January, although on the 14th of this month Ukrainian authorities assured that the city was still under their control.

Yevgeny Prigozhin, the head of mercenaries of the “Wagner” PMC, personally announced the “complete” conquest of Soledar since January 11.

A week ago, Prigozhin warned that Ukraine’s long-awaited spring offensive was “coming soon” and that it would be aimed at isolating his mercenaries from the regular Russian army corps.

As always, these statements should be viewed through the lens of the information war waged by both sides of the conflict, as well as Prigozhin’s own struggle for power with the military command in Moscow.

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