KYIV, Ukraine, 13 Jan: Russia claimed Friday that its forces captured a fiercely contested salt mining town, in what would mark a rare victory for the Kremlin after a series of setbacks in its invasion of Ukraine. Ukrainian authorities said the fight for Soledar continued.
\nThere have repeatedly been conflicting reports over who controls the town, the site of a monthslong bloody battle in the grinding fight for Ukraine\u2019s eastern regions. The Associated Press could not independently confirm either side\u2019s claim.
\nSoledar is located in Ukraine\u2019s Donetsk province, one of four that Moscow illegally annexed in September.
\nFrom the outset, Moscow identified Donetsk and neighboring Luhansk province as priorities, and in September declared them part of Russia along with two other regions.
\n\u201cThe liberation of the town of Soledar was completed in the evening of Jan. 12,\u201d Lt. Gen. Igor Konashenkov, the Russian Defense Ministry\u2019s spokesman, said, adding that the development was \u201cimportant for the continuation of offensive operations in the Donetsk region.\u201d
\nTaking control of the town would allow Russian forces \u201cto cut supply lines for the Ukrainian forces\u201d in Bakhmut and then \u201cblock and encircle the Ukrainian units there,\u201d Konashenkov said.
\nBut Serhii Cherevaty, a spokesman for the Ukrainian army in the east, denied the Russian Defense Ministry\u2019s claim in remarks carried by RBK Ukraine news outlet, saying that \u201cfighting is ongoing in the city.\u201d
\nThe Institute for the Study of War, a think tank in Washington, observed that the fall of Soledar wouldn\u2019t mark \u201can operationally significant development and is unlikely to presage an imminent Russian encirclement of Bakhmut.\u201d
\nThe institute said that Russian information operations have \u201coverexaggerated the importance of Soledar,\u201d a small settlement, arguing as well that the long and difficult battle has contributed to the exhaustion of Russian forces.
\nJust hours before Russia\u2019s claim, Ukraine reported that there had been a heavy night of fighting but did not acknowledge loss of the town.
\nIn a Telegram post early Friday, Ukraine\u2019s deputy defense minister, Hanna Maliar, said that Moscow \u201chad sent almost all (its) main forces\u201d to secure a victory in the east. She said that Ukrainian fighters \u201care bravely trying to hold the defense.\u201d
\n\u201cThis is a difficult stage of the war, but we will win. There is no doubt,\u201d Maliar added. AP<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
KYIV, Ukraine, 13 Jan: Russia claimed Friday that its forces captured a fiercely contested salt mining town, in what would mark a rare victory for the Kremlin after a series of setbacks in its invasion of Ukraine. Ukrainian authorities said the fight for Soledar continued. There have repeatedly been conflicting reports over who controls the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-208838","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-world"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/208838","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=208838"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/208838\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=208838"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=208838"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=208838"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}