The situation remains unclear in Soledar, in eastern Ukraine. The city of 10,000 inhabitants, which the Russian army is trying to take, is still the scene of fierce fighting. “Everything that is happening today in the direction of Bakhmout or Soledar is the bloodiest scenario of this war”, declared in an interview with AFP Mykhaïlo Podoliak, an adviser to the Ukrainian presidency. Follow our live.
The Wagner group claims the capture of Soledar, the Russian army denies. The information was not only denied by the Ukrainian military but also by the Russian army. On the spot, our special envoys have noted that the clashes have not ceased.
According to Zelensky, the front in the Soledar region “holds”. Volodymyr Zelensky said on Wednesday evening that the fighting continued in Soledar, and that the front in the region “held”. “The terrorist state and its propagandists are trying to pretend” having achieved successes in Soledar, the Ukrainian President said in his daily address, “but the fighting continues”.
The Russian army again changes the commander-in-chief of the military operation in Ukraine. He will only have directed the operations for three months. General Sergey Surovikin has been replaced by General Valeriy Gerasimov. The latter was until now at the head of the staff, specifies the Ministry of Defense (link in English). General Sergei Surovikin was demoted to the rank of deputy, along with two other senior officials.