The Kremlin welcomes the “tactical successes” of the Russian armed forces in Ukraine, but asks that official reports be awaited
The Kremlin this Wednesday hailed the “tactical achievements” of Russian forces in relation to the capture of the town of Soledar in eastern Ukraine, which Kyiv has not confirmed, but urged caution and awaiting official reports as the capture by the Wagners mercenary group fighting alongside regular Russian troops in Ukraine. Of course, Moscow admits that the advances in the area are associated with high casualties.
“The tactical achievements are very important, there is a positive dynamic going on,” said the spokesman for the Russian Council Presidency, Dmtri Peskov, at a press conference, urging “not to rush things” and “wait for the official reports”. Peskov has highlighted the advance of Russian forces in Ukraine, but stressed that success will come with achieving the goals of the “special military operation” declared on February 24, 2022. Russia has never clearly specified these goals.
In any case, Peskov admitted the high number of victims in the Soledar region. “Although tactical successes are very important, they come at a high cost, at the expense of the fantastic heroism of our fighters, and so that’s all the more reason to be proud of our guys around the area who don’t spare their lives or their health for the sake of it to bring us these successes”.
The head of private military company Wagner, Yevgeny Prigozhin, assured hours earlier that the group’s units had taken control of Soledar, but fighting with Ukrainian forces continued in the center of the city.
However, the spokesman for the Eastern Command of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, Serhii Cherevati, has denied that the Russian capture of Soledar is a fact and promised that the armed forces would later provide more details about the situation in that town.
On its Telegram channel, the Ukrainian army has assured that “Solidar Ukraine was, is and will be”, denying the veracity of a picture published by the Russian agency, the Russian agency RIA Novosti, showing Prigozhin accompanied by several of his Soldiers are seen mercenaries in a cave said to be one of the salt pans in the city of Donetsk.
The message from the Ukrainian army on Telegram contains three photos, two of them genuine from the Soledar salt mines and the photo published by the Russian agency accompanied by the caption “What Prigozhin says is the Soledar salt mine”. Although there is really no way to verify the accuracy of the image of Prigozhin and his fighters, the Ukrainian army concludes that “it seems that the parishioner’s whereabouts are incorrect and he is not in the Soledar mines” . He attributes the release of Prigozhin’s picture to a PR stunt aimed at the “internal audience.” [rusa] to somehow justify the insane losses among the prisoners,” referring to the fact that many of the group’s mercenaries are ex-convicts who are promised their freedom in exchange for fighting in Ukraine. (agencies)