A new Azovstal?
The battle for Soledar and its mining tunnels raged again through the night from Tuesday to Wednesday in freezing temperatures.
Russian mercenaries from the Wagner Group claimed to have taken control of the salt mining town in eastern Ukraine, while their fighters opened fire on a pocket of resistance in the center.
Tuesday evening, kyiv said its forces were holding up.
The Ukrainian army's Wednesday morning summary mentions Soledar only once, indicating that the town is one of many bombed towns in the Donetsk region.
Yet hours earlier, Russian private militia leader Wagner claimed his forces had completed the takeover of the city.
“Wagner units have taken over the entire territory of Soledar.
A cauldron has been formed in the center of the city in which urban fighting is taking place,” Yevgeny Prigozhin said in an audio message posted on his Telegram channel late Tuesday, claiming that a group of Ukrainian soldiers, surrounded in the center- town, had been given an ultimatum to surrender by midnight.
“The number of prisoners taken will be announced tomorrow,” he added in his message.
He posted a photo of himself surrounded by Wagner fighters in what appears to be one of Soledar's salt mines.
Evgueni Prigojine, the leader of the Wagner militia, posted a photo of himself among his fighters in what may be a mining corridor in Soledar.
DR
“At the moment, according to the information I have, the Soledar center is already under the control of Wagner units,” Denis Pushilin, the Russian head of the region, told Russian channel Channel One.
Russian commanders have made capturing Soledar, a ghost town since the start of the offensive, a key objective in their campaign to take the nearby strategic town of Bakhmout, fiercely contested since the summer.
It would also be the first victory for the Russian troops, who accumulated the retreats.
Russia's capture of Soledar and its huge salt mines would have symbolic value, both military and commercial for Russia.
The salt mines are located in the suburbs of the city.
Their tunnels, several kilometers long, are an entry way to Bakhmout.
On Tuesday evening, in his daily address, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky only mentioned the control of Soledar through his tribute to the men who are fighting there.
And its Ministry of Defense tweeted late Tuesday evening that "even after suffering colossal losses, Russia is still maniacally trying to seize Soledar."
The day before, President Zelensky had declared that the Ukrainian troops were resisting “new, even harsher assaults”, and that the outskirts of the city were “covered with the corpses of invaders”.
"This is what madness looks like," he said.
