The fighters of the Russian mercenary group Wagner are said to have captured the town of Soledar. This is reported by the British secret service and the American think tank Institute for the Study of War. The infamous Wagner group also announced the conquest of the place.
According to the Russian state agency TASS, Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin (61) announced on Tuesday evening that Soledar had been captured. In the center of the village, a group of Ukrainian soldiers was still surrounded. “The number of prisoners of war will be announced tomorrow,” Prigozhin said. A Wagner group telegram channel also said that the surrounded Ukrainian soldiers had been given an ultimatum to surrender before midnight.
Deputy Ukrainian Defense Minister Hanna Maliar (44) briefly stated that heavy fighting was ongoing in Soledar. “The enemy does not care about the great loss of personnel and continues to storm,” Maliar told Telegram. “The approaches to our positions are littered with the corpses of the enemy. Our fighters valiantly maintain the defense.”
What does Russia’s success at Soledar mean?
The breakthrough will affect the battle for the town of Bakhmut, just a few miles to the south. Vladimir Putin’s Donbass campaign (70) is facing decisive days. The most important questions and answers.
By capturing the city and the surrounding salt and gypsum mines, the Russians have created a good starting position from the north to attack the city of Bakhmut, which has been fighting for months. The hottest battle in the war in Ukraine is currently raging around Bachmut. A Ukrainian soldier who introduces himself as Kiyanyn in his videos, reported from Bachmut on Tuesday about extremely costly battles. The Russians would ignore the many deaths and simply throw “new meat into the fray”. “The problem is that these men are not afraid of us enough yet. They are being pumped full of Russian propaganda.”
What does the breakthrough mean for the Wagner Prison mercenary group?
For Yevgeny Prigozhin (61), the head of the Wagner group, Soledar’s case is a great success. Putin’s confidante, who recruits his fighters directly from detention centers, among others, was able to show that his people have more power than the soldiers in the Russian army. The United States accuses Prigozhin of mainly wanting to gain financial gain from the conquest of the salt and gypsum mines around Soledar.
Will Ukraine still lose the Donbass?
Kiev is still a long way from that. The experts of the American think tank Foreign Policy Research Institute even believe that current events can have a positive impact on Ukraine. The grueling battle for Soledar and Bakhmut had already seriously weakened Russian forces by the summer. This is the only reason why the Ukrainians were able to recapture such large areas around Kharkiv in the north and around Kherson in the south.
What are the recent deliveries of tanks and weapons to Ukraine?
In addition to France and the US, the Germans have also confirmed that they want to send tanks to Ukraine. The western tanks should give the Ukrainian forces a decisive advantage in the coming winter weeks. The condition for this is that the ground in the Donbass freezes and the vehicles no longer get stuck in the mud. The air defense system of the American Patriot could also decide the game, he tells ETH military expert Marcel Berni (34) to Blick. It will be months before the promised Patriot systems can be used in Ukraine. “But then it helps to defend important Ukrainian land positions and cities much more effectively.” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky (44) is not satisfied with the new weapons. In a telegram speech on Tuesday, he said: “We must get everything we need to drive terrorists out of our country.”
How is Russia responding to the development?
As Wagner boss Prigozhin released the first of his mercenaries back home after their six-month war service (with the call to resist the “urge to kill” back in civilization), Ukrainian military intelligence is spreading the rumor that Russia is already the next week a new wave of mobilization starts. Kiev claims that Putin wants to force 500,000 new men into the war. Moscow denies that.