“The hard fight for Donetsk continues,” Mr Zelensky said. “The battle for Bahmut and Soledar, for Kremnina, for other towns and villages in the eastern part of our country continues.”
Countering Moscow’s announcements that Russian forces had won and fully captured the small town of Solendar in eastern Ukraine, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky insisted in his address last night that the fighting in the town was far from over.
“The hard fight for Donetsk continues,” Mr Zelensky said. “The battle for Bahmut and Soledar, for Kremnina, for other towns and villages in the eastern part of our country continues.”
His remarks followed the Russian announcement yesterday morning that Solentar had been captured after weeks of fierce hostilities, house-to-house fighting. If the announcement is true, it is the first seizure by the Russian army of a Ukrainian city since July, when it captured Lisitsansk.
Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov spoke of a “significant” development for the continuation of the “successful offensive operation” in the Donetsk region.
According to the spokesman, the capture of Soledar allows the Russian army to encircle Bahmut, about 10 kilometers from there. Mr Konashenkov said around 700 Ukrainian soldiers had been killed in the fighting, without giving figures for Russian casualties.
Observers believe that the development will mainly boost the morale of the men of the Russian army, which had decreased after a series of retreats and defeats. Moscow’s forces in Ukraine have a new commander as of Wednesday, General Valery Gerasimov.
Although analysts such as those at the US Institute for the Study of War (ISW) point out that this is not a turning point in the war, the entire Ukrainian defense line from Shiversk to Bakhmut is now under pressure.
Ukrainian President Zelensky earlier this week described as “propaganda” the information about the capture of Solendar by Russian forces, judging that the “terrorist state” is trying to mislead its citizens to “support the mobilization”.
Both the Russian military leadership and the mercenary company Wagner have announced that they are now in control of the city. Mr. Zelensky commented that the generals and the mercenary company are fighting over who should be credited with the “success” in the field, adding that this is already a “clear indication of their failure”.
Already on Wednesday, Yevgeny Prigozhin, the head of Wagner, announced that Solentar was completely under Russian control and remained to be “cleared” by residual Ukrainian forces.
According to reports in the Western press, Mr. Prigozhin is eyeing the city’s salt mines.
The Russian Defense Ministry publicly acknowledged — in a rare occurrence — the fact that Wagner attempted Solentar, singling out the “courage” and “sacrifice” of its “volunteers” who took part in the raids.
The battle in Solentar is considered the bloodiest of the war that broke out on February 24, 2022.
Ukrainian sources said on Wednesday that 559 citizens remained in the small, almost completely destroyed town, which had 10,000 residents before the conflict began. The Russian side says that all civilians have been removed from the city.
RES-EMP
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