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KYIV – Moscow’s defense ministry claimed on Friday that Russian troops had captured the salt-mining town of Soledor in eastern Ukraine, while Ukrainian forces said tough fighting was still underway there as they built new defensive positions. Were staying
Deputy Defense Minister of Ukraine Hanna Maliar said Friday morning The Russians had launched brutal attacks throughout the Donetsk region and insisted that the night in Soledar had been “hot”.
“Our fighters are valiantly trying to defend. This is a difficult phase of the war, but we will win it.
While the Russian ministry claimed that Soledar’s capture was completed on Thursday night, Ukrainian defense officials did not confirm this. “There is still fighting in the town,” said Serhiy Cherevaty, spokesman for the Armed Forces of Ukraine Command East.
one in Statement given late on Thursday Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that Ukrainian paratroopers of the 77th Airmobile Brigade and fighters of the 46th Airmobile Brigade in Soledar held their positions and inflicted significant losses on the enemy.
The Institute for the Study of War think tank said the Russians have controlled most of Soledar since January 11.
ISW said the Russians have pushed Ukrainian forces out of Soledar’s western outskirts and are still “removing the rest of Ukrainian forces from Soledar”. In its battle update.
Russian media also reported that Ukrainian soldiers have been surrounded in soledarBut this has been rejected by the Ukrainian side.
The Russians are presenting their capture of Soledar as a major but rare victory on the battlefield, as it will allow them to encircle Bakhmut, a town in the Donetsk region they have been trying to storm since the summer .
Yevgeny Prigozhin, leader of the Wagner Group, styled the capture of Soledar and Bakhmut as personal projects. In a statement, he claimed that the unique landscape of nearby Soledar and Bakhmut made them great natural fortifications, thanks to a vast system of salt mines that served as a tunnel network.
Whether Soledar would make it easier to capture Bakhmut – as the Russians hoped – is disputed.
“Russian information operations have exaggerated the importance of Soledar as a Russian Pyrrhic strategic victory. The ISW continues to assess that the capture of Soledar – a settlement smaller than 5.5 square miles – will not enable Russian forces to establish control over vital Ukrainian ground lines of communication in Bakhmut, nor will it enable Russian forces to encircle the city in the short term. Would be a better situation. ISW said in a statement.
A Ukrainian soldier who left the Soledar area on Thursday told Politico on condition of anonymity that Ukrainian forces were building new fortification lines on the outskirts of Soledar, the closest to the villages of Blahodtne, Krasna Hora and Sil. More likely.
A soldier said, the information about the encirclement of our soldiers in Soledar is not correct. “The fresh reserves arrived back at Soledar on 7 January, and we were holding the line to prevent our front from collapsing while the new line of defense was formed.”
The General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces did not confirm the information about falling back to new positions. However, in its latest war update, the General Staff Noted the repulsion of Russian attacks in the areas of the villages of Sil and Krasna Hora.