Donetsk puppet government “advancing slowly to solidify the current position and repel counterattack”
Russia reaffirmed its position on the 17th (local time) that it had occupied the mining town of Soledar in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine.
According to TASS and Reuters, the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR), a pro-Russian puppet government in the Donetsk region, said in a telegram that day that “Russian forces have liberated Soledar from DPR territory.”
Denis Pushilin, the head of the DPR, also said in an interview with the news channel ‘Rosia 24’ that day, “On the fronts of Bahmut and Soledar, the Wagner Group, a private military company, is on everyone’s lips.” are doing,” he said.
Pushilin stressed the importance of Soledar in the further Russian advance.
“The forces are not yet advancing that fast,” he said, because they had to consolidate their positions and repel sporadic counterattacks by Ukrainian forces.
Soledar is the area where the fiercest fighting is taking place as Russia concentrates its offensive instead after months of unsuccessful attacks on Bahmut in eastern Donetsk.
This is an area located in the middle of the main defense line connecting Bahmut in the south and Sibersk in the north, and if Russia takes this place, it could be the first meaningful victory after repeated defeats since August of last year.
In addition, as a way to attack Donetsk, it is possible to secure a bridgehead that can besiege Bahmut.
On the 13th, the Russian Ministry of Defense announced the capture of Soledar, but Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky later refuted that fighting was still going on in Soledar and other eastern areas.
/yunhap news
