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Added on the 10/01/2023 11:18:35 - Copyright : France 24 EN
Fighting continues in Soledar as Ukraine denies Russia's claim to have taken control of the city
Soledar is strategically important for Russia in its quest for Bakhmut and control of Donbas.
Smoke rises north of Bakhmut close to Soledar, eastern Ukraine, where heavy fighting is taking place as Russian forces try to capture the town. The defence of the village of Paraskoviivka, located north of Bakhmut, is "very strong", according to a senior sergeant who warns that "there can be an operational encirclement of Bakhmut" if the Russian forces take the village and block the road to the town.
Russia claimed Friday that its forces captured a fiercely contested salt mining town, in what would mark a rare victory for the Kremlin after a series of setbacks in its invasion of Ukraine. Ukrainian authorities said the fight for Soledar continued. There have repeatedly been conflicting reports over who controls the town, the site of a monthslong bloody battle in the grinding fight for Ukraine's eastern regions.
Ukraine's Deputy Defence Minister, Ganna Malyar, says the country's forces are fighting to retain control of Soledar, a town in the eastern Donetsk region, but the situation remains "difficult". Malyar describes the battle as "the fiercest and heaviest fighting" and says that Russian forces are "suffering heavy losses".
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