dpatopbilder – ARCHIVE – After days of bloody fighting with house-to-house fighting, Russia has now officially taken the city of Soledar in the Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine. Photo: Libkos/AP/dpa
In order to save the lives of the soldiers, they retreated to already prepared defense lines, spokesman for the army’s eastern group, Serhiy Cherevatyy, told Ukrainian public television on Wednesday. The retreat prevented the enemy from breaking through to the rear.
According to Cherevaty, the Ukrainian units were neither encircled nor captured. According to him, the Russian troops suffered enormous losses during the conquest, which are comparable to the two Chechen wars (1994 to 1996 and 1999 to 2000). The military spokesman gave no information about his own losses.
Russian units had already announced the complete conquest of Soledar at the beginning of last week. At times, the Ministry of Defense and the leadership of the Wagner mercenary troop argued over who should claim credit for taking the completely destroyed small town, which had around 10,000 inhabitants before the war.