There was no immediate confirmation from Ukrainian authorities of Soledar’s fall. There have been conflicting reports over who controls the town, the site of a months-long bloody battle in the grinding fight for Ukraine’s eastern regions.
Soledar is located in Ukraine’s Donetsk province, one of four that Moscow annexed in September. From the outset, Moscow identified Donetsk and neighboring Luhansk province as priorities, and it has treated the areas as Russian territory since their annexation, AP reported.
“The liberation of the town of Soledar was completed in the evening of Jan. 12,” Lt. Gen. Igor Konashenkov, the Russian Defense Ministry’s spokesman, said, adding that the development was “important for the continuation of offensive operations in the Donetsk region.”
Taking control of Soledar would allow Russian forces “to cut supply lines for the Ukrainian forces” in Bakhmut and then “block and encircle the Ukrainian units there,” Konashenkov said.