Russia claims to have taken Soledar in Ukraine after pitched battle

Russia said on Friday that its forces had taken control of the salt mining town of Soledar in eastern Ukraine overnight after days of relentless fighting, conceding Moscow’s first major military advantage after half a year of military setbacks.

Reuters could not immediately verify the situation in the city. Earlier on Friday, Kyiv said fighting was still ongoing after what it described as a “hot” night.

A spokesman for Ukraine’s eastern military command denied that Russia had captured the town of Soledar and said Ukrainian units were still there.

“Our units are there, the city is not under Russian control,” spokesman Serhiy Cherevatyi told Reuters by phone.

Russia said Soledar’s capture would cut off Ukraine’s supply routes to the larger city of Bakhmut, trapping the remaining Ukrainian forces there. Russia has been trying to capture Bakhmut for months in a brutal war.

“The capture of Soledar was made possible by the continuous bombardment of the enemy by airstrikes and flights of troops, missile forces and artillery of the group of Russian forces,” the Moscow Defense Ministry said.

Kyiv says Russia is throwing waves of troops and mercenaries into a futile battle for the bombed-out area of ​​Soledar, and US officials say a Russian victory there, or even in Bakhmut, would make little difference to the overall war.

Soledar, with a pre-war population of just 10,000, sits above a cave salt mine. Bakhmut, ten times larger, is an important provincial district center.

“Even if Bakhmut and Soledar fall to Russia, it won’t have a strategic impact on the war,” US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters at the White House on Thursday, adding that it would have no impact either. determination of Ukraine.

‘Difficult phase’: Ukraine

The ultra-nationalist mercenary company Wagner run by Yevgeny Prigozhin, an ally of President Vladimir Putin, claimed to have arrested Soledar on Wednesday.

Putin said Wagner did not represent the state and did not violate Russian law and had the right to work and promote business interests anywhere in the world.

WATCH | The Wagner group was instrumental in the Russian Soledar war:

Russia’s defense ministry has remained silent on Wagner’s claims since earlier in the week.

Ukraine’s Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Malyar wrote in the Telegram messaging application that “the enemy is throwing almost all its main forces in the direction of Donetsk and maintaining a high intensity of attacks.”

“This is a difficult phase of the battle, but we will win,” he said.

Outside Soledar on Thursday, Ukrainian soldiers dug into a well-occupied trench in the winter forest. An explosion boomed in the distance.

A 24-year-old soldier using a call alert BUK told Reuters that the intensity of fire had increased by about 70 percent, but that troops were still holding their positions.

“The situation is difficult but stable. We are holding the enemy … we are fighting.”

Ukraine says some civilians are unable to flee Soledar

Ukrainian officials said on Thursday more than 500 civilians were trapped in Soledar, including 15 children.

In a video address overnight, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy thanked the two units in Soledar, saying they “held positions and inflicted significant losses on the enemy.” He did not provide any other details.

The front line in Ukraine has been almost two months since Russia’s massive retreat to the south. Meanwhile, the war around Bakhmut and Soledar became what both sides called a “meat grinder” – a brutal war that claimed the lives of thousands of soldiers needed for the decisive battle ahead.

The new year has brought an important promise of extra Western weapons for Ukraine, which is seeking armor for mechanized warfare against Russian tanks. Last week, France, Germany and the United States pledged to deliver armored combat vehicles, and this week Canada pledged to buy the National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile System (NASAMS) for Ukraine from the US.

WATCH | Canada is doing the next best thing without its own NASAMS missile system: analysts:

On Friday, Finland joined Poland in pledging to send German-made Leopard tanks to Ukraine as part of the Western coalition. This requires permission from Berlin, which is currently hesitant but has recently signaled its willingness to allow it.

Putin launched the invasion on February 24, saying Kyiv’s relationship with the West threatens Russia’s security, and Russia has since claimed to have annexed four Ukrainian provinces. Ukraine and its allies have called it an unprovoked war to seize territory, and Kyiv has said it will fight until it takes all its land.