Russia says it took Soledar, Ukraine denies its capture - The Associated Press

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russia claimed Friday that its forces captured a fiercely contested brackish mining town, successful what would people a uncommon triumph for the Kremlin aft a series of setbacks successful its warfare successful Ukraine. Ukrainian authorities said the combat for Soledar continued.

Moscow has painted the battles for the municipality and adjacent Bakhmut arsenic key to capturing the full eastbound portion of the Donbas — and besides arsenic a mode to grind down the champion Ukrainian forces and forestall them from launching counterattacks elsewhere. But that cuts some ways, and Ukraine has said that its fierce defence of the eastbound strongholds has helped necktie up Russian forces.

Since it penetration of Ukraine connected Feb. 24, Moscow has prioritized taking afloat power of the Donbas — a portion made up of the Donetsk and Luhansk provinces wherever it has backed a separatist insurgency since 2014. Russia has seized astir of Luhansk, but astir fractional of Donetsk remains nether Ukraine’s control.

There person repeatedly been conflicting reports implicit who controls Soledar, wherever a bloody conflict has raged for months. The Associated Press could not independently corroborate either side’s claim.

“The liberation of the municipality of Soledar was completed successful the evening of Jan. 12,” Lt. Gen. Igor Konashenkov, the Russian Defense Ministry’s spokesman, said, adding that the improvement was “important for the continuation of violative operations successful the Donetsk region.”

Taking power of the municipality would let Russian forces “to chopped proviso lines for the Ukrainian forces” successful Bakhmut and past “block and encircle the Ukrainian units there,” Konashenkov said.

But Serhii Cherevaty, a spokesperson for the Ukrainian service successful the east, denied the Russian Defense Ministry’s claim, telling the AP that “there are inactive Ukrainian units successful Soledar.”

Meanwhile, the Institute for the Study of War, a deliberation vessel successful Washington, observed that the autumn of Soledar wouldn’t people “an operationally important improvement and is improbable to presage an imminent Russian encirclement of Bakhmut.”

The institute said that Russian accusation operations person “overexaggerated the value of Soledar,” a tiny settlement, arguing arsenic good that the agelong and hard conflict has contributed to the exhaustion of Russian forces.

White House National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby connected Thursday besides downplayed the value of imaginable Russian gains successful the area.

“Even if some Bakhmut and Soledar autumn to the Russians ... it’s not going to person a strategical interaction connected the warfare itself,” Kirby said. “And it surely isn’t going to halt the Ukrainians oregon dilatory them down successful presumption of their efforts to regain their territory.”

Just hours earlier Russia’s claim, Ukraine reported that determination had been a dense nighttime of warring but did not admit nonaccomplishment of the town.

In a Telegram station aboriginal Friday, Ukraine’s lawman defence minister, Hanna Maliar, said that Moscow “had sent astir each (its) main forces” to unafraid a triumph successful the east.

“This is simply a hard signifier of the war, but we volition win. There is nary doubt,” Maliar added.

A Ukrainian serviceman antecedently told the AP that successful the conflict for Soledar, the Russians person archetypal sent successful soldiers, galore from the backstage Russian subject contractor Wagner Group, who instrumentality dense casualties but exhaust the Ukrainian defenders. Then the Russians person sent successful different question of highly-trained soldiers, paratroopers oregon peculiar forces, said the Ukrainian officer, who insisted connected anonymity for information reasons.

Konashenkov said that storming of Soledar became imaginable acknowledgment to monolithic aerial and artillery strikes and airborne troops’ maneuvers to envelop the city. He didn’t notation the Wagner Group, which antecedently took recognition for capturing Soledar. There have been signs of tensions betwixt the service and the Wagner Group, led by millionaire Yevgeny Prigozhin.

Prigozhin angrily accused the Defense Ministry connected Friday of “constantly trying to bargain Wagner’s victory.”

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Follow AP’s sum of the warfare successful Ukraine: https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine