Ukraine admits withdrawal from Donbas town of Soledar after ‘months of heavy fighting’

© Provided by The i Ukrainian soldiers on the front line near Soledar. International partners have questioned whether holding the city is worth the cost in lives and resources (Photo: Oleksandr Ratushniak/Reuters)

Ukraine has acknowledged for the first time its withdrawal from the town of Soledar in the eastern Donbas region.

“After months of heavy fighting, including over the past weeks, the armed forces of Ukraine left [Soledar] and retreated along the outskirts to pre-prepared positions,” military spokesman, Sergiy Cherevaty, said on Wednesday.

Russian forces had already claimed control of the settlement. On 11 January, leader of the Wagner group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, had declared victory on behalf of his mercenary outfit, stating “Wagner units have taken the entire area of Soledar”.

The Ukrainian military previously disputed those claims and said its forces were still contesting areas of Soledar. But Mr Cherevaty’s statement confirms the suspicions of foreign governments and open-source investigators tracking the conflict.

The battle for Soledar, a small town with a pre-war population of around 10,000, assumed greater importance for both sides due to its proximity to Bakhmut.

The city has been the target of a months-long assault by Wagner mercenaries, resulting in thousands of deaths and destruction of the landscape, with speculation that Mr Prigozhin had promised to deliver it as a prize for Russia’s President, Vladimir Putin, – eager for a victory after a succession of defeats.

Russian military analysts predicted that taking control of Soledar would lead to the fall of Bakhmut and then further gains in the Donbas region that Mr Putin claims as Russian territory. Russian war correspondents have since reported further progress in the region.

“The Ukrainian army has problems to the south-west of Bakhmut,” reporter Seymon Regov posted on Wednesday.

“Wagner is advancing and taking control of the heights… Bakhmut is gradually being covered from two sides.”

Vital Ukrainian supply lines could soon be severed, Mr Regov predicted.

Similarly, Denis Pushilin, the Russian-installed governor of the eastern Donetsk region, said units of the group were advancing in Bakhmut, with fighting taking place in previously Ukrainian-held neighbourhoods.

“Units, in particular Wagner, are advancing in Artyomovsk itself,” he said, according to the Russian Tass news agency, using the Russian name for the town.

“Fighting is already taking place in the outskirts and in neighbourhoods that until very recently were held by the enemy.”

Ukraine maintains its control of Bakhmut, often referred to as a “fortress”, is secure – as does the UK Ministry of Defence.

But international partners have questioned whether holding the city is worth the cost in lives and resources.

US National Security Council spokesman, John Kirby, suggested the city should not be a priority.

“Even if (Russia) is successful in Bakhmut and Soledar, it’s not going to strategically change the dynamics on the battlefield,” he said last week.

“It’s not going to set the Ukrainians back to a degree where they’re all of a sudden on the back foot and they’re losing.”

German intelligence officers expressed alarm at Ukrainian casualties around Bakhmut, estimated to exceed 100 per day.

But despite Ukraine’s withdrawal from Soledar, there is little indication that any further ground will be surrendered.