With material superiority and without regard to their own heavy losses, the Russian mercenary force Wagner has probably gained a foothold in the hard-fought Soledar. The encircled defenders are in danger.
Kyiv – After days of heavy fighting for the eastern Ukrainian city of Soledar, members of the notorious Russian mercenary group Wagner have announced the conquest of the town. According to the Russian state agency TASS, Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin claimed on Tuesday evening that Soledar had been conquered. A group of Ukrainian soldiers was still surrounded in the center of the village.
Around ten and a half months after the Russian attack on Ukraine, the fighting in Donetsk is currently particularly fierce. The cities of Soledar and Bakhmut are of strategic importance: they are part of the Ukrainian defensive wall in front of the conurbation between Slovjansk and Kramatorsk. From the Russian point of view, taking the territory would be a significant step towards conquering the entire Donbass – one of the Kremlin’s war aims.
Ultimatum to surrender
In addition to regular Russian troops, various mercenary units also fight at Soledar, including the notorious Wagner Group. “The number of prisoners of war will be announced tomorrow,” Prigozhin was quoted as saying on one of the Wagner channels on Telegram. There it was also said that the surrounded Ukrainian soldiers had been given an ultimatum to surrender by midnight. The information could not initially be independently verified.
There was initially no comment from the Ukrainian side. Shortly before, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had praised the defenders of Soledar for their courage and steadfastness in his daily video message. “Thank you, warrior!” Zelenskyy said.
In the early evening, Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maljar reported on violent assaults by Russian troops. “Heavy fighting in defense of Soledar continues,” she said on Telegram. “Regardless of the losses, the enemy continues to attack.” The front of the Ukrainian defense lines is “littered with the corpses of the attackers”. dpa
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