Fighting intensifies in eastern Ukraine.
President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Monday that his troops were resisting "new assaults" in Soledar, near Bakhmout, a city that Moscow has been trying to seize for months.
“I thank all our soldiers who protect Bakhmout (…) and the fighters in Soledar, who resist new, even more violent attacks from the invaders”, launched the Ukrainian head of state in his daily message, assuring that his troops had “gained extra time (…) for Ukraine”.
Pro-Russian separatists in the eastern Donetsk region claimed earlier in the day that they had taken control of a village near Bakhmout, the current epicenter of the fighting.
The locality of Bakhmoutské “has been liberated by the Russian armed forces”, indicated the separatists of this region whose Moscow claims the annexation.
AFP was unable to verify these independent source claims.
In a statement posted on social media, the Wagner mercenary group, led by a businessman close to the Kremlin, claimed that this village had already been "liberated" by its men last month.
Bakhmoutské is located northeast of Bakhmout, a town once known for its vineyards and salt mines and which had around 70,000 inhabitants before the start of the Russian offensive last February.
It is now the hottest spot on the forehead.
“One of the bloodiest places on the forehead”
Russian forces, led in particular by mercenaries from the Wagner group, have been seeking to take Bakhmout for months, but they face fierce resistance from the Ukrainians.
The two camps notably engaged in a ferocious artillery duel which reduced part of the city to ruins.
Bakhmoutské is located right next to the town of Soledar, also the scene of heavy fighting.
In a separate statement, Wagner Group leader Yevgeny Prigozhin said the assault on Soledar was "exclusively" carried out by members of his organization.
These statements illustrate the growing rivalry that exists, according to many analysts, between the Russian Ministry of Defense on the one hand and the Wagner group on the other.
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Volodymyr Zelensky said in an address on Sunday evening that the area between Bakhmout and Soledar was "one of the bloodiest places on the front".
In the northeast of the country, at least two people were killed on Monday in a Russian strike that hit a market in the village of Shevchenkové, local authorities said.
In Kherson, in the south, Governor Yaroslav Yanushevich reported one dead and one injured in a Russian bombardment that hit a residential area.