Shocking images. Heavy fighting continues in Soledar, near Bakhmout, Ukraine, where Russia is trying to turn the tide of the war at all costs. Satellite photos show the extent of the destruction affecting the city.
“Everything that happens in the direction of Bakhmout or Soledar is the bloodiest scene of this war,” Mykhaïlo Podoliak, an adviser to the Ukrainian presidency, told AFP on Wednesday.
Despite the harshness of the confrontations, Volodymyr Zelensky assures that the front “endures”. According to the Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister, Ganna Maliar, the Russians tried “unsuccessfully” to seize “completely” this mining town, which had 10,000 inhabitants before the start of the conflict.
Buildings largely destroyed
In one of the photos, taken on Wednesday, we can see, under a blanket of snow, schools and various buildings, largely destroyed by the strikes. The contrast with the following shot, taken in the same place five months earlier, is striking: we see some houses in the countryside, with no apparent signs of bombing.
The same observation in another area of the city, where the buildings were also heavily affected by the shots, according to photographs here also taken five months apart. By comparison, some buildings suffered very significant damage, while others were completely wiped off the map.
The Wagner group affirms the capture of Soledar, Kyiv and Moscow deny
If the Ukrainians have been tirelessly defending this city for several months, the group of Russian mercenaries Wagner claimed to have taken it on Wednesday. It would be a long-awaited military victory for Moscow’s army, which has experienced several humiliating setbacks since September.
However, this military success was denied by both the Ukrainian army and the Russian army.
“Assault forces are fighting in the city,” the Russian Defense Ministry said. “Airborne units blocked the northern and southern parts” of Soledar, he said.
Source: BFM TV
