Hundreds of civilians trapped in Soledar amid fierce fighting, Ukraine says - The Guardian

Hundreds of civilians stay trapped successful Soledar, Ukraine has said, arsenic bloody warring continues implicit power of the mostly destroyed brackish mining municipality successful eastbound Ukraine.

Pavlo Kyrylenko, the politician of Donetsk, told Ukrainian authorities TV that 559 civilians remained successful Soledar, including 15 children, and could not beryllium evacuated.

Ukraine said connected Thursday its troops were “holding on” arsenic warring continued successful Soledar, dismissing claims made by the Russian mercenary radical Wagner that its forces had taken power of the town.

“Fighting is fierce successful the Soledar direction. [The Russians] are moving implicit their ain corpses,” Ukraine’s lawman defence minister, Hanna Maliar, said.

“Russia is driving its ain radical to the slaughter by the thousands, but we are holding on.”

Yevgeny Prigozhin, the caput of the Wagner mercenary group, said connected Wednesday his troops had captured Soledar aft aggravated fighting, and that the municipality was “littered with Ukrainian servicemen”.

But the Kremlin has truthful acold declined to state triumph successful Soledar.

When asked astir Prigozhin’s triumph claims, Vladimir Putin’s spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, told journalists: “Let’s not rush, let’s hold for authoritative statements. There is simply a affirmative dynamic successful progress.”

The seizure of Soledar would signify Moscow’s archetypal important summation successful fractional a year.

In its regular subject briefing connected Thursday, the Russian defence ministry did not notation developments surrounding Soledar.

Russian forces person precocious focused their efforts connected the seizure of Soledar arsenic portion of their ambition to instrumentality the adjacent strategic metropolis of Bakhmut and Ukraine’s larger eastbound Donbas region, starring to fierce battles successful sub-zero temperatures implicit the past 5 days.

Drone footage released by Ukraine this week revealed immoderate of the demolition inflicted connected Soledar aft months of fighting, with weaponry craters scarring the landscape.

Before and aft photos springiness a consciousness of the destruction:

Elsewhere, Ukrainian Brig Gen Oleksii Hromov said Russia was preparing a caller violative aimed astatine capturing Ukraine’s eastbound and confederate regions.

“It is expected that successful the adjacent future, the force volition effort to scope the administrative borders of Donetsk oblast, and whitethorn intensify its actions to seizure the left-bank portion of Zaporizhzhia oblast,” Hromov said.

Ukraine has been informing for weeks that Russia is preparing for a large offensive, claiming that Moscow is acceptable to bid the mobilisation of up to 500,000 conscripts successful January.

Also connected Thursday, a Russian delegation led by the commandant of Russia’s crushed forces, Oleg Salyukov, visited Belarus to reappraisal the combat readiness of a associated unit stationed there.

Russia and Belarus person precocious expanded their associated subject grooming exercises successful Belarus, arsenic interest grows that Moscow is pressuring its closest state to articulation the war.

Serhiy Nayev, the commandant of Ukraine’s associated forces, said connected Thursday the “situation successful Belarus … did not airs an contiguous threat”.

The travel came a time aft a large shake-up successful Moscow’s subject leadership successful which Valery Gerasimov, the main of the wide staff, was appointed arsenic the country’s wide commandant for the warfare successful Ukraine.