Russia claimed Moscow’s troops had taken Soledar, a small town in the Donetsk region of Ukraine, in one of their first victories in months. Kyiv rejected the claim.
A salt mining town with a population of 10,000 before Russia launched its invasion in February 2022, Soledar has limited strategic value but has been the site of weeks of fierce and deadly fighting. If confirmed, Russian control of the town would mark a rare triumph after months of retreats in the face of Ukraine’s counteroffensive.
The Russian Defense Ministry said the capture of Soledar would open the way to retaking the bigger city of Bakhmut nearby by making it possible eventually to cut it off from supply lines. Russian forces, primarily from the Wagner mercenary company, have been fighting street-to-street battles there for months. That’s reduced both localities to rubble, with corpses piling up on a battlefield that in places resembles those of World War I, according to video footage from the area.
