Fierce fighting in Soledar and Russian citizens sent “to the slaughterhouse”

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News of the day

The Ukrainian army was still defending Soledar on Thursday despite a “difficult” situation in this small town in eastern Ukraine that Russian forces are trying to conquer at all costs to reverse the course of the war. Once known for its salt mines, Soledar is located 15 km northeast of the town of Bakhmout which Russian forces have sought to take for months.

“The fiercest and most violent fighting continues today in the Soledar area,” Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister Ganna Maliar told a press conference. As for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, he promised, on Facebook after a meeting with his staff, to provide “all the necessary” to the soldiers who resist the Russian assaults. According to military analyst Anatoly Khramtchikhin, the capture of Soledar, now completely destroyed, would allow Moscow to finally brandish a military victory, after a series of humiliating setbacks.

sentence of the day

Russia is sending thousands of its citizens to the slaughterhouse, but we are holding on. »

These are the words of Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister Ganna Maliar. During a press conference, the latter added: “Despite a difficult situation, Ukrainian soldiers are fighting tirelessly. »

The number of the day

5 years. This is the prison sentence to which Marsel Kandarov was sentenced on Thursday for refusing to go and fight in Ukraine. Not wanting to “participate in the Russian special military operation”, the 24-year-old contract soldier did not show up in May at his place of duty. In September, he was “found” by the police and found guilty of evading military service for more than a month during a period of mobilization.

The trend of the day

Russia and Ukraine have not signed a new prisoner swap deal with Turkey, Moscow’s human rights ombudsman said, adding that her earlier remarks about a possible deal were misinterpreted.

Ukrainian and Russian human rights officials Dmytro Loubinets and Tatiana Moskalkova held talks Tuesday in Ankara, a rare meeting at this level between officials from the two countries for several months. Turkey’s state-run Anadolu news agency quoted Tatiana Moskalkova on Wednesday as announcing an agreement to exchange more than 40 prisoners from both sides. But the latter claimed that it was referring to the number of prisoners already exchanged in the past. “Someone misunderstood something,” she said after talks with her Ukrainian counterpart. We talk about the results of our past work. These exchanges have already taken place. »

Tatiana Moskalkova also clarified that the Ukrainian and Russian mediators also exchanged lists of wounded soldiers in preparation for a possible future exchange: “Exchanges like this have taken place all the time. These agreements are concluded by the military and we work in cooperation with them. »

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