Moscow has named a new commander for the war in Ukraine and Wagner’s group has announced that it has fully occupied Soledar, although the Ukrainian government provides different information, Reuters writes.
On the 11th of January Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu appointed Valery Gerasimov as the commander of what Russians call a «special military operation». The change of commanders is said to have been made to improve cooperation between military units and make the command structure more efficient.
The owner of the Wagner Group, Yevgenii Prigozhin, has announced that the group has completely occupied Soledar. Meanwhile, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said he could not confirm Soledar’s capture. Donetsk Governor Pavlo Kyrylenko told Ukrainian public television that 559 civilians, including 15 children, were still in the city and there was no way to evacuate them due to heavy fighting. Before the war, Soledar had a little more than 10,000 inhabitants. Reuters has also been unable to obtain independent confirmation of the situation in Soledar.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky rejected earlier statements by the Wagner group about the capture of Soledar.
«The terrorist state and its propagandists are trying to pretend that part of our Soledar could somehow be Russian property. But the fighting continues,»
Zelensky said.
The General Staff of the Ukrainian Army said in a statement on the social network Facebook that Russian forces are suffering heavy losses. In the morning statement of the 12th of January, the leadership of the Ukrainian army mentioned the movement of equipment in the vicinity of Soledar, but did not provide detailed information. Oleh Zhdanov, a Ukrainian military expert and reserve colonel of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, said that the situation in Soledar is approaching critical, however, Ukrainian forces still hold positions and control about half of the city.
«The Russians, if they take one of these towns, will try to put the event on par with capturing Berlin and they will use it for propaganda purposes as much for the outside market as for domestic consumption.
Inside Russia, it will give them the opportunity to lift the spirits of conscripts and society as a whole. To unite them all,»
Zhdanov pointed out.
Ukraine’s army has informed that Russia is recruiting ex-soldiers and government officials to join paramilitary groups in annexed Crimea.
Read also:War in Ukraine: situation in Soledar is dangerous and unclear