THE WASHINGTON POST / USA
By Erin Cunningham, Ellen Francis, Natalia Abbakumova, Adam Taylor and Dan Rosenzweig-Ziff
Ukrainian troops are waging “fierce battles” against Russian forces for control of Soledar, Ukraine’s army said, as both sides seek to control the narrative of a bloody fight for the salt mining town in eastern Ukraine. But as of Thursday night, Russian forces likely control most of the city, according to geolocated footage cited by analysts.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky dismissed claims that Russian or Wagner Group fighters have seized the town near the embattled city of Bakhmut, where a Russian advance could give Moscow a symbolic win.
The United States is not in a position to predict the outcome of the battle, White House spokesman John Kirby told reporters Thursday, but even if Russian forces did take the town, “it’s not going to have a strategic impact on the war itself. And it certainly isn’t going to stop the Ukrainians or slow them down in terms of their efforts to regain their territory.”
Particularly in Donbas, “towns and villages have swapped hands quite frequently,” he said. “So … don’t count the Ukrainians out.”
The battle for Soledar
The “top issue is Soledar, Bakhmut, the struggle for the Donetsk direction in general,” Zelesnky said Thursday in his nightly address. “We have analyzed in detail what decisions are needed, what reinforcements are needed, what steps should be taken by commanders in the coming days.” Zelensky also praised the performance of soldiers from the 77th and 46th airmobile brigades who are fighting in the area.
Geolocated footage from Wednesday and Thursday shows Russian forces likely control “most if not all of Soledar,” according to an assessment by the Institute for the Study of War, a U.S.-based think tank. However, a Russian victory in Soledar does not necessarily mean that the larger nearby city of Bakhmut faces an imminent encirclement, the assessment added. Brig. Gen. Oleksii Hromov, a top Ukrainian military official, said in a briefing Thursday that battles for Soledar are ongoing, though he did not say which side controls what.
Russia’s defense ministry has not announced the capture of Soledar, but Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said “a really gigantic job has been done” there, when asked about the town Thursday. “But there is still a lot of work ahead” in the town and other contested cities, Peskov added. “This is not the time to stop. The main work is yet to come.”