Russian mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin insisted that his forces managed to seize a town in eastern Ukraine, trumpeting a rare victory despite contradictions from Ukrainian and even Kremlin officials.
“Once again, I want to confirm the complete liberation and cleansing of the territory of Soledar from units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Civilians were withdrawn,” Prigozhin said Wednesday."Ukrainian units that did not want to surrender were destroyed. ... The whole city is littered with the corpses of Ukrainian military personnel.”
“The main efforts of the enemy are concentrated on attempts to completely seize the Donetsk region, it is conducting offensive operations in the Bakhmut direction,” the Ukrainian General Staff stated in a Wednesday military update, according to an unofficial translation. “He is trying to take control of the city of Soledar and the supply routes of our units; he suffers heavy losses, the fighting continues.
Prigozhin has emerged as a high-profile leader of a fighting force with a reputation for superior effectiveness and equipment, raising the specter of a new power center in Putin’s tightly controlled network of oligarchs. He hastened to turn the battle into a propaganda victory for his Wagner Group operation, as distinct from any other regular Russian fighting force.
Russian Defense Ministry Sergei Shoigu’s team also contradicted Prigozhin’s claim to have fathered the victory on his own.
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