KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russia claimed Friday that its forces captured the fiercely contested salt mining town of Soledar in what would mark a rare victory for the Kremlin after a series of setbacks in its war in Ukraine. Ukrainian authorities said the fight for the town continued.
Moscow has painted the battles for Soledar and nearby Bakhmut as key to capturing the entire eastern region of the Donbas — and as a way to grind down the best Ukrainian forces and prevent them from launching counterattacks elsewhere. But that cuts both ways, and Ukraine has said its fierce defense of the eastern strongholds has helped tie up Russian forces.
Western officials and analysts say the two towns’ importance after months of bloody fighting is more symbolic than strategic.
Since its invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, Moscow has prioritized taking full control of the Donbas — a region made up of the Donetsk and Luhansk provinces, where it has backed a separatist insurgency since 2014. Russia has seized most of Luhansk, but about half of Donetsk remains under Ukraine’s control.
There have repeatedly been conflicting reports over who controls Soledar. The Associated Press could not independently confirm either side’s claim.
“The liberation of the town of Soledar was completed in the evening of Jan. 12,” said Lt. Gen. Igor Konashenkov, the Russian Defense Ministry’s spokesman, calling the development “important for the continuation of offensive operations in the Donetsk region.”
Taking control of the town would allow Russian forces to cut supply lines to Ukrainian forces in Bakhmut, and then “block and encircle the Ukrainian units there,” Konashenkov said.
But Serhii Cherevaty, a spokesman for the Ukrainian army in the east, denied the town had fallen, telling the AP “there are still Ukrainian units in Soledar.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Friday told the Lithuanian parliament that Kyiv did not intend to give any “breathing space” to Russian forces, and that the coming months will be “decisive” for Ukraine’s fight to defend itself.