Russia reasserted Friday that it had captured the town of Soledar in Ukraine’s Donetsk region, where war has raged for weeks, though Ukraine has yet to cede the battlefield.
Victory would be a rare victory for Moscow after it has experienced significant losses in Ukraine since September, when it withdrew from the Kharkiv region followed by the city of Kherson in November.
Fox News Digital was unable to independently verify Moscow’s claim on Friday, which comes after several conflicting reports about battlefield gains in Donbas in recent days and is Russia’s second claim of victory over the city. mining this week.
DONETSK, UKRAINE – JANUARY 12: Ukrainian army medics transfer a wounded soldier to a hospital on the Donbas front in Donetsk, Ukraine on January 12, 2023.
(Photo by Diego Herrera Carcedo/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
THE COUPS ‘ARE IN FASHION, WARNS THE UN LEADER, SPEAKING AGAINST THE ‘REGULATION OF ILLEGALITY’
Ukraine’s Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar took to Telegram on Friday morning, saying that “the night in Soledar was hot” but that the fighting continues.
“The enemy has thrown almost all the main forces in the direction of Donetsk and is maintaining a high intensity of the offensive. Our fighters are bravely trying to maintain the defense,” he added.
Maliar called the fighting in Donetsk “a difficult phase of the war” but said he has “no doubt” that the Ukrainian forces will emerge victorious.
The UK Defense Ministry warned this week that Moscow has redeployed some of its elite airborne forces to Donbas as Russia seeks to reinforce its eastern flank after failing to secure Bakhmut despite months of ground warfare, shelling and attacks. aerial.
BAKHMUT, UKRAINE – DECEMBER 31: Ukrainian soldiers are seen in a trench on New Year’s Eve in Bakhmut, Ukraine on December 31, 2022.
(Photo by Diego Herrera Carcedo/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
RUSSIA MOVES SPECIAL AIRBORNE FORCES TO DONBAS AS kyiv WARNS OF ‘DECISIVE’ FIGHT AHEAD
On Friday, Russia appeared to confirm this battlefield tactic, claiming that its victory at Soledar was made possible by its airborne forces, which carried out a “covert maneuver[s]and attacked Ukrainian troop positions before blockading the city from the north and south, Russian state media RIA reports.
Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Lt. Gen. Igor Konashenkov said capturing the salt mining town would allow Russian forces to cut off supplies to Ukrainian troops in the Bakhmut axis and reassert Russian control of the Donbas.
Russia’s goal is to encircle the Ukrainian forces around Bakhmut.
DONETSK, UKRAINE – JANUARY 12: Ukrainian soldiers search a captured Russian soldier on the Donbas front in Donetsk, Ukraine on January 12, 2023.
(Photo by Diego Herrera Carcedo/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
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Ukraine has denied Russia’s claims of victory in the Donbas, and Western defense officials have suggested that capturing Soledar will not have the same strategic advantage over Ukrainian troops that Moscow has suggested.
The Institute for the Study of War, a think-tank in Washington, said Friday that Moscow has “grossly exaggerated the importance of Soledar,” the Associated Press reported.
