Bloody fighting for the Ukrainian city of Soledar in the Donetsk region continues, according to information from Moscow and Kyiv. “More than 100 Russians were sent to hell at once in the Soledar region,” the Ukrainian military command said in Kyiv on Thursday.
The Ukrainian armed forces killed more than 100 Russian fighters and destroyed their equipment thanks to coordinated work with artillery and missile troops, it said. The information could not initially be verified independently. Ukraine had previously denied Russian claims that Soledar had already been taken.
The Kremlin in Moscow had spoken of “positive dynamics” but said it would wait for official confirmation that Soledar would be taken. The head of the Russian paramilitary organization “Wagner”, Yevgeny Prigozhin, however, claimed that the city had been captured. At the same time, he explained that the area was still being “cleansed” of the remnants of the Ukrainian army.
“The civilians were brought out, the fighters of the Ukrainian armed forces who did not want to go into captivity were destroyed. About 500 people were killed,” Prigozhin claimed. Now it is a question of “cleaning up” the salt mines, in which Ukrainian soldiers are said to have holed up, he said.
Mercenary group shows documents of missing British
According to their own account, the mercenary group found the body of a missing Brit in Soledar, along with ID and the documents of a second British citizen. On a Telegram channel assigned to the mercenaries, photos were posted on Wednesday evening that are said to show the documents of the two Britons.
There was no information about the fate of the second missing person. The statement did not indicate on which side the missing Briton had fought. A few days ago, the Foreign Ministry in London announced that two Britons were missing in Ukraine.
The private “Wagner” group led by Prigozhin repeatedly claims decisive combat successes alongside the Russian military. Russian military bloggers reported that Ukrainian forces still controlled parts of Soledar’s western districts and were “desperately” defending them. The aim is to break the resistance completely on Thursday.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy does not want to give up the city. “The front in the Donetsk region is holding,” he said in his video address on Wednesday evening. “Fighting continues and we are doing everything we can to strengthen Ukraine’s defences.” (dpa)
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