Russia said Friday its forces had wrested control of the war-scarred town of Soledar in east Ukraine, Moscow’s first claim of victory in months of battlefield setbacks.
KRAMATORSK, Ukraine –
Both sides have conceded heavy losses, with Moscow eager to sell any win back home after repeated battlefield humiliations and Ukraine desperate to hold and win back ground.Ukraine’s deputy defence minister said earlier that Russia had “relocated almost all of its main forces to the Donetsk front” to ensure Soledar’s capture.The Russian mercenary group Wagner has claimed that it spearheaded the offensive for Soledar and already announced this week that its forces were controlling it.
The Russian defence ministry said Friday that Soledar’s capture “makes it possible to cut off the supply routes of Ukrainian troops” there and surround them. “But this small-scale victory is unlikely to presage an imminent encirclement of Bakhmut,” it cautioned.
Malaysia Latest News, Malaysia Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Russia appoints new leader of Ukraine campaign as Wagner says Soledar fully capturedRussian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu appoints Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov as overall commander for what Moscow calls its 'special military operation' in Ukraine.
Read more »
Ukraine says its forces hold out against Russia in battle for SoledarIn a video address, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy thanks two units in Soledar that he says 'are holding their positions and inflicting significant losses on the enemy.'
Read more »
Fighting rages over Ukraine's Soledar despite mercenaries' claim of control(1ST UPDATE) Soledar is the focus of intense fighting as Russia views it as key to its campaign for the nearby strategic city of Bakhmut and Ukraine's larger eastern Donbas region.
Read more »
Fate of Ukraine's Soledar uncertain as Wagner claims controlUkrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Wednesday that fighting was still raging in a key eastern frontline city that a Russian mercenary group earlier said it controlled, as Moscow announced a new military commander in Ukraine.
Read more »
Ukraine says troops hold out in corpse-strewn battlefield of Soledar(1st UPDATE) The ultra-nationalist contract militia Wagner, run by an ally of President Vladimir Putin outside the main chain of military command, claims to have taken Soledar after intense fighting that it says had left the town strewn with Ukrainian dead
Read more »