live blog
Status: 01/11/2023 00:04
The leader of the Wagner mercenaries has reported the capture of the embattled Ukrainian town of Soledar. Initially, there was no comment from Kyiv. The developments in the live blog.
2023-01-10 • 10:51 p.m
Russia reports capture of Soledar
After days of heavy fighting for the eastern Ukrainian town of Soledar, members of the notorious Russian mercenary troupe Wagner announced the conquest of the town. According to the Russian state agency TASS, Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin announced that Soledar had been conquered. A group of Ukrainian soldiers was still surrounded in the center of the village. “The number of prisoners of war will be announced tomorrow,” Prigozhin was quoted as saying. The information has not yet been independently verified. There was initially no comment from the Ukrainian side.
Around ten and a half months after the Russian attack on Ukraine, the fighting in Donetsk is currently particularly fierce. The cities of Soledar and Bakhmut are of strategic importance: they are part of the Ukrainian defense against the conurbation between Sloviansk and Kramatorsk. From the Russian point of view, taking the territory would be a significant step towards conquering the entire Donbass – one of the Kremlin’s war aims.
Dark green: Russian army advancing. Hatched: areas annexed by Russia.
Image: ISW/08.01.2023
conflicting parties as a source
Information on the course of the war, shelling and casualties provided by official bodies of the Russian and Ukrainian conflict parties cannot be directly checked by an independent body in the current situation.