Russia says it has taken control of Ukrainian salt mine town Soledar after a months-long battle, calling it an “important” step for its offensive.
The victory will allow Russian troops to cut off Ukrainian supply routes in the nearby larger city of Bakhmut, the defence ministry said.
Earlier, Ukraine said its forces were still fighting and that there had been active battles overnight.
The fighting around Soledar has been some of the bloodiest of the war.
Ukraine’s deputy defence minister, Hanna Malyar, said on Friday that fighting had been continuing and that it was “hot in Soledar overnight”. Ukrainian fighters were “bravely trying to hold the defence”, she added, in what was a difficult stage of the war.
The town’s significance for the Russian military is disputed by military analysts but seizing Soledar would likely be hailed as a victory after months of failures and setbacks in Russia’s 10-month war.
The US-based think tank Institute for the Study of War said hours earlier that it was likely that Russian forces had captured Soledar, but it did not believe it meant that they would then be able to go on to encircle Bakhmut.
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