The fate of Soledar, a devastated town in eastern Ukraine is hanging in the balance. Ukrainian forces are holding out against a Russian onslaught in what has become a bloody focal point. Ukraine said that Russian claims it had taken Soledar were “untrue.'
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said this week that “everything is completely destroyed” in the area.
Soledar, known for salt mining and processing, lies in the Donetsk region and has little intrinsic value. But it lies at a strategic point 10 kilometers north of Bakhmut, which Russian forces are aiming to surround. Russia illegally annexed Donetsk and three other Ukrainian provinces in September, but its troops have struggled to advance. After Ukrainian forces recaptured the southern city of Kherson in November, the battle heated up around Bakhmut.The Institute for the Study of War says Russian forces are up against “concerted Ukrainian resistance” around Bakhmut.
An exceptional feature of the fighting near Bakhmut is that some of it has taken place around entrances to disused salt mine tunnels which run for some 200 kilometers , according to western intelligence reports.
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