The military situation around the small town of Soledar is opaque. The only thing that is certain is the immense extent of the destruction, as current aerial photographs show.
According to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the Russian side’s announced capture of the heavily contested small town of Soledar in eastern Ukraine is a propaganda maneuver. “The front in the Donetsk region is holding,” Zelenskyy said in his daily video address. “Fighting continues and we are doing everything we can to strengthen Ukraine’s defenses.”
“Now the terror state and its propagandists are trying to pretend that part of our city of Soledar – a city that was almost completely destroyed by the invaders – is some kind of property of Russia,” said Zelenskyy. With these claims of supposed success, Russia is trying to deceive its population and “support the mobilization”. In addition, the “proponents of aggression” should receive further hope.
The Ukrainian general staff had also denied Russian reports about the conquest of Soledar. “Fighting continues,” it said in a statement.
On Tuesday, the head of the Russian Wagner mercenary force, Yevgeny Prigozhin, claimed that the small town in the Donetsk region was almost captured and that around 500 Ukrainian soldiers were trapped. The Russian military leadership remained silent. In an interview with the Interfax news agency, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov only mentioned “positive dynamics in terms of progress”.
Ukraine has been defending itself against the Russian war of aggression since the end of February 2022. Most recently, Moscow’s troops reportedly gained ground near Soledar and neighboring Bakhmut. Both cities are of strategic importance because they are part of the Ukrainian defensive wall in front of the conurbation between Sloviansk and Kramatorsk.
Source: Stern
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