The head of the Russian group of Wagner mercenaries, Yevgeny Prigozhin, said today that fierce and bloody fighting was ongoing in the outskirts of Soledar, a town in eastern Ukraine near Bakhmut, the hottest spot on the front lines. “Let’s be honest. The Ukrainian army is fighting bravely for Bakhmut and Soledar. Very fierce and bloody fighting is taking place in the western suburbs of Soledar,” said Prigozhin, quoted by his press service on Telegram. “The Armed Forces of Ukraine honorably defend the territory of Soledar. Claims of mass exodus from their ranks do not correspond to reality,” he added.
The town of Soledar, about 10 kilometers northeast of Bakhmut, borders Bakhmutské, a village that pro-Russian separatists say they captured yesterday. Wagner’s troops play a leading role in the struggle for Bakhmut, a city of dubious strategic importance but one that has acquired powerful symbolic value as both sides have been fighting for supremacy for months. Yesterday
Prigozhin said the attack on Soledar was carried out “exclusively” by members of his organization. The British MoD, part of the fighting, is aiming to control the entrance to an old salt mine in Soledar, as its tunnels run under the front line and could be used to ‘penetrate behind enemy lines’.
The British Ministry of Defense, in its daily intelligence report on the situation in Ukraine, claims that Russian and Wagner troops probably control most of the town of Soledar. In the report, published on Twitter, London comments that capturing the city is probably still Moscow’s most important immediate operational objective. Russia’s Soledar Axis is an attempt to isolate Bakhmut from the north and cut Ukrainian lines of communication, ministry experts say. Despite the increased pressure on Bakhmut, the report concludes, Russia is unlikely to encircle the city any time soon as Ukrainian forces hold the lines
stable defenses in depth and control of supply routes.
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