“Heavy fighting” between Ukrainian and Russian forces was still going on in Soledar on Wednesday according to kyiv and Moscow, as the Wagner mercenary group had earlier claimed control of this small town in eastern Ukraine.
“Everything that is happening today in the direction of Bakhmout or Soledar is the bloodiest scenario of this war,” Mykhaïlo Podoliak, adviser to the Ukrainian presidency, told AFP in an interview on Wednesday.
Soledar, once known for its salt mines, is located near the larger city of Bakhmout which the Ukrainians have been defending fiercely for several months against waves of assaults from Russian forces.
Its capture would allow Moscow to finally brandish a military victory, after several humiliating setbacks since September, and for the leader of the Wagner group, Yevgeny Prigojine, to reinforce his growing influence on the Russian political scene.
“Heavy fighting continues in Soledar,” Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister Ganna Maliar said on the Telegram social network.
According to her, the Russians “tried to break through the Ukrainian defense” and “completely capture the city, but without success”.
“Assault forces are fighting in the city,” the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement, adding that “airborne units blocked the northern and southern parts” of the city. “Russian aerospace forces strike enemy strongholds,” he added.
“Huge” losses
Earlier, the Kremlin had been cautious about the situation on the ground.
“You don’t have to rush. Let’s wait for official statements,” spokesman for the Russian presidency, Dmitry Peskov, told the press, while considering that there was “a positive dynamic in the advances” of the Russian forces.
The statements of the Russian and Ukrainian armies, however, contradict the words of the leader of the Russian paramilitary group Wagner, Mr. Prigojine, who said early Wednesday that his units “exclusively” had “taken control of the entire territory of Soledar”.
However, he noted that “urban battles” continued in pockets of resistance in the city center, making the extent of the Russian group’s control over this small town of just over 10,000 pre-war inhabitants uncertain.
Russian state news agency RIA Novosti released a photograph of Mr Prigozhin with armed fighters, saying it was taken in the Soledar salt mines.
The Ukrainian army quickly denied these assertions, assuring that Soledar “was, is and will always be Ukrainian” and that it is “not true” that Mr. Prigozhin is inside the salt mines of Soledar.
“No one has planned to give the city away,” insisted “Bober”, a wounded soldier awaiting evacuation, met by AFP on Wednesday on the road linking Bakhmout to Sloviansk. Soledar “was not completely taken” by the Russians, he claimed.
According to Mykhaïlo Podoliak, the Russian military losses there are “enormous” and “the Ukrainian army is also losing men”. “Certainly, it’s more than what’s happened before,” he told AFP.
“More” weapons
The adviser to the Ukrainian presidency again reiterated kyiv’s calls to receive “more” Western weapons and military equipment, so as to end the war in the coming months.
“Only missiles with a range of more than 100 kilometers will allow us to significantly accelerate the disoccupation of territories”, which will lead to the end of the war “either at the end of spring or at the beginning of summer, either summer, or probably fall,” he said.
However, he promised that kyiv would not use these weapons to attack targets on Russian territory. “We are waging an exclusively defensive war,” he said.
“We still want to obtain 250 to 300 to 350 heavy tanks,” the official reminded us again, while Western chancelleries are slow to respond favorably to kyiv’s requests on this point.
On the diplomatic front, a rare meeting between Russian and Ukrainian officials was held Tuesday in Turkey between the two countries’ human rights officials, Dmytro Loubinets and Tatiana Moskalkova.
The two representatives “discussed a wide range of humanitarian issues and cases related to the provision of human rights assistance to citizens of both countries,” Loubinets said on social media on Wednesday.
“Humanitarian aid to Ukrainian and Russian citizens” was well mentioned, said Ms. Moskalkova for her part.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was in Lviv on Wednesday, in particular to pay tribute to soldiers who have died in combat since February 2022 and are buried in a cemetery in this large western city.