Though unlikely to prove a turning point, Soledar’s fall to the Kremlin’s forces after months of Ukrainian defense would be a battlefield milestone and offer Russian troops a strategic springboard for their efforts to encircle the nearby city of Bakhmut.
Armored vehicles from the U.S. and Germany, including 50 tank-killing Bradleys, should expand Ukraine’s ability to move troops to the front lines.Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Wednesday that Russian forces had “positive dynamics in advancing” on Soledar, but he stopped short of declaring its capture when asked about the claims that it had come under Russian control.
Soledar’s fall would make “holding Bakhmut much more precarious for Ukraine,” Michael Kofman, the director of Russia Studies at the CAN nonprofit research organization in Arlington, Va., said Wednesday., with expected heavy casualties, may make Russia’s victory as costly as a defeat, however. A success in Soledar and Bakhmut would help Prigozhin, who has openly criticized Russia’s military leadership, to increase his clout at the Kremlin.
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