Ukraine’s deputy defense minister stated Wednesday afternoon that Russia does not control Soledar, a town in eastern Ukraine’s Donetsk region that has seen heavy fighting in recent days.
“Heavy fighting continues in Soledar,” Hanna Maliar wrote on Telegram on Wednesday. “After suffering losses, the enemy replaced its units and increased the number of Wagner’s troops, attempting to break through our troops’ defenses and completely take over the town, but failing.”
Russia’s most recent claims: Wagner, the Russian private military company, announced on Tuesday that his forces had taken control of the “entire territory of Soledar.” On Wednesday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov tempered that sentiment, saying only that there was a “positive trend.” According to the Russian Defense Ministry, its forces have “blocked Soledar from the northern and southern parts” of the settlement.