Russia has stepped up a powerful assault on Soledar in eastern Ukraine, forcing Ukrainian troops to repel waves of attacks led by the Wagner contract militia around the salt mining town
Military analysts say the strategic military benefit for Russia of capturing Bakhmut and Soledar wouldTaras Berezovets, a Ukrainian journalist, political commentator and officer in the Ukrainian army, said capturing Soledar made little sense, except as a personal victory for Prigozhin, however it would be easier to take than Bakhmut.from the mines, believed to extend over 100 miles underground and contain auditorium-scale caverns.
"The complexity of fighting in cities like Bakhmut and Soledar is that it is hard to determine who is with you and who is the enemy," he said. In an evacuee centre in nearby Kramatorsk, Olha, 60, said she had fled Soledar after moving from apartment to apartment as each was destroyed in tank battles. "There isn't one house left intact. Apartments were burning, breaking in half," said Olha, who gave only her first name.
Two people were killed in a Russian rocket attack on Kramatorsk on Monday evening, Kyrylo Tymoshenko, an aide to Zelenskiy, said on Telegram.Reporting by Reuters bureaus; Writing by Frank Jack Daniel, Doina Chiacu and Michael Perry; Editing by Grant McCool, Lincoln Feast and Himani Sarkar
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