Russia heavily shells Donetsk Oblast, kills 1 in Soledar.

According to Donetsk Oblast Governor Pavlo Kyrylenko, Russian attacks killed one civilian and injured seven civilians in Donetsk Oblast over the past day.

One person was killed in Soledar, a city located about 20 kilometers north of Bakhmut, where fierce battles are ongoing between Ukrainian and Russian forces.

Serhiy Cherevaty, a spokesman for the Eastern Military Command, said on Jan. 16 that over the past day, Russian troops had shelled Bakhmut 259 times.

Cherevaty also said that Soledar had been shelled 134 times.

According to him, Russian troops are “trying to carry out an offensive in the direction of Avdiivka,” a city in Donetsk Oblast.

Russia claimes it has captured Soledar but Ukraine continues to deny the claim.

Capturing Soledar would help Russia approach Bakhmut from the north, but an encirclement is still a distant goal for Moscow despite confirmed advances in the town, the Institute for the Study of War said in an assessment on Jan. 7.

Earlier in the day, the U.K. Defense Ministry said that Ukraine’s Armed Forces “almost certainly” maintained positions in Soledar as of Jan. 15 in the face of assaults by Kremlin-run mercenary group Wagner.