Battles in Soledar front continues with Russian claim of being under the control of its forces

On Thursday, the Russian military operation in Ukraine, where units of the Russian army are trying to extend control over Ukrainian regions, and hit the areas of concentration of Kyiv forces and their weapons depots, while the Ukrainian forces are resisting in an attempt to regain its lands, with military and logistical support from the West.

In the latest developments, the Ukrainian army is sending more soldiers to the Soledar Front, to eliminate Wagner fighters, adding that very violent clashes are taking place between the two sides.

The Ukrainian Ministry of Defense announced that the Russian army is incurring heavy losses in materiel and lives on that direction.

On the other hand, the commander of the Troy Special Forces unit, Vladimir Novikov, stated that the Russian forces are conducting a combing operation in the city of Soledar and its surroundings.

However, it’s too early to talk about the number of trapped Ukrainian soldiers.

Novikov added, “Ukrainian soldiers are hiding in basements and residential buildings, only after completing the entire survey process will it be possible to sort out the dead and prisoners”.

Soledar would become a stepping stone in Russia’s drive to seize the entire eastern industrial region of Donbas.

Earlier, the commander of the Chechen Akhmat special forces, Apti Alaudinov, reported that Russian forces had begun searching Soledar.

The head of the Russian Wagner military company, Yevgeny Prigozhin, announced on Wednesday night that Soledar, which witnessed fierce fighting in the past days, had been controlled by Wagner fighters.

He confirmed that his fighters completely liberated the town of Soledar in eastern Ukraine, and killed about 500 soldiers loyal to Kiev.

“The entire city is strewn with the corpses of Ukrainian soldiers,” he added in a statement.

Before Wagner’s statement, the Kremlin refrained from declaring victory and admitted to incurring heavy losses.

Space images posted by the American Maxar Technologies company, revealed the extent of the destruction caused by the fierce fighting between the Ukrainian and Russian forces around the neighboring towns of Soledar and Bakhmut on the front line in eastern Ukraine.

Russia targeted Soledar as a launching pad for attacking the nearby city of Bakhmut, which has held out for months against Russian forces and is a center of supply lines in eastern Ukraine.

On Wednesday, Russia ordered its top general to take charge of the invasion of reeling Ukraine, in the biggest reorganization yet of its military command structure after months of setbacks on the battlefield.

In its daily statement, the Russian Defense Ministry said on Thursday that its offensive in eastern Ukraine’s Donetsk region was continuing successfully.