Russia likely in ‘control’ of Ukraine’s Soledar town, claims UK

Russia may have taken “full control” of Ukraine’s salt-mining eastern town of Soledar, in the Donbas region, UK’s Ministry of Defence has claimed, adding that themercenary Wagner Groupand Russian troops have made significant advances in the past four days.

Russia, however, is “unlikely to envelop the town imminently because Ukrainian forces maintain stable defensive lines in depth and control over supply routes," it added.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said there was "almost no life" in Soledar, with "no whole walls left", adding that "the whole land near Soledar is covered with the corpses of the occupiers."

Soledar, which reportedly had a population of 10,000, is near Bakhmut,where Ukraine is currently engaged in a bloody battle with Russian forces.

Russia has been intensifying its offensive operations in three key areas in eastern Ukraine,the general staff of Ukraine’s armed forces said during Tuesday morning brief.

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He said that Russia is concentrating its efforts on capturing all of Donetsk Oblast by targeting the eastern areas of Bakhmut, Avdiivka and Lyman.

Though the strategic significance of occupying Soledar is currently being assessed, a US official last week said that the founder of the Wagner Group's, Yevgeny Prigozhin, was keen on taking control of the large salt and gypsum mines in the area, reports BBC.

A senior military official from the US Department of Defense on Monday gave a similar assessment of Soledar, saying that there was a "good portion" of the town in Russian hands.

The current battle has mostly been centered around Bakhmut, which has been going on for months. The US official described the most recent exchanges as "savage".

Meanwhile, two British nationalshave gone missingin the region and were last seen heading to Soledar.

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