After months of fighting, Russia claims to have gained control of the Ukrainian salt-mining town of Soledar. Which it calls a “major” milestone in its advance.
According to the defense ministry, the win would allow Russian troops to choke off Ukrainian supply routes in the nearby larger city of Bakhmut.
Officials from Ukraine stated that the battle for Soledar was still ongoing and accused Russia of “information noise.”
The conflict surrounding Soledar has been among the fiercest of the entire war.
Thursday, regional governor Pavlo Kyrylenko reported that 559 inhabitants, including 15 children, could not be evacuated from the town.
The significance of Soledar to the Russian military is contested by military analysts due to its tiny size. After months of defeats and setbacks in Russia’s 10-month conflict. The capture of Soledar would certainly be heralded as a win in Moscow.
Institute for the Study of War, a think tank based in the United States, stated hours earlier that it was likely that Russian forces had captured Soledar, but that they would not be able to encircle Bakhmut.
The spokesman for Ukraine’s eastern military command, Serhiy Cherevatyi, stated that Russia has dispatched its finest mercenary warriors and other forces to Soledar.
Vice-minister of defense Hanna Malyar stated that fighting had been “heated in Soledar overnight.” She noted that Ukrainian soldiers were “bravely attempting to hold the defense” during a difficult phase of the war.
In his evening address, hours earlier, President Volodymyr Zelensky identified Soledar, Bakhmut. And the broader defense of the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine as the top priority.
