The Ukrainian army admitted on Wednesday that it has ceded the eastern city of Soledar to the Russians, two weeks after Moscow announced its capture.
"After months of heavy fighting (...) the Ukrainian armed forces abandoned" the Donbass city, to "withdraw to prepared positions," the military spokesman for the eastern zone Serguii Tcherevaty told AFP, refusing however to specify. When did that withdrawal occur?
This would be the first Russian victory after several months of advances by the Ukrainian army. Despite that, Kyiv has always downplayed the Donetsk region enclave, which is home to an old salt mine and close to the city of Bakhmut. This is indeed an important communication node to maintain the supplies of the Ukrainian troops and where a bloody battle has been waged for months for its control.
Control of Bakhmut, a city populated before the war by some 70,000 people, would open the way for the Russian army to Sloviansk and Kramatorsk, the main Ukrainian strongholds in the east of the country.
In this sense, the group of Russian mercenaries Wagner is advancing in the Ukrainian city, said the interim leader of the Donetsk region imposed by Russia, Denis Pushilin, on Wednesday.
"In Artiomovsk (Russian name for Bakhmut) quite strong clashes continue. Russian units, Wagner in particular, are advancing," he asserted, indicating that "in some places the fighting is on the outskirts, in others, in the neighborhoods that until recently They were under enemy control. Information that until now has not been confirmed by either the Russian Ministry of Defense or the Ukrainian command.
According to Pushilin, the Russian forces now seek to cut off the supply routes of the Ukrainian troops in this city and encircle them.
Elsewhere, Russian forces have continued to hit Ukrainian areas, especially in the south and east. Ukraine's forces said on Wednesday that over the past 24 hours, Russian forces launched four missile strikes, 26 airstrikes and more than 100 rocket salvo system strikes.
Russian forces are concentrating their efforts on establishing control over the Donetsk province, carrying out offensive operations around Bakhmut cities, Liman and Avdivka, and the town of Novopavlivka, according to spokesman Oleksandr Shtupun.
In addition to Donetsk, the Russian attacks hit localities in the provinces of northeastern Kharkiv and Sumi, northern Cherníhiv, extreme eastern Luhansk, southeastern Zaporiryia and southern Jershon.
