Russia Appoints New Chief Of Ukraine Marketing campaign; Says Soledar Totally Captured

Kyiv/Close to Bakhmut, Ukraine:

Moscow named a brand new commander for its invasion of Ukraine whereas Russian non-public navy agency Wagner Group mentioned its seize of the salt mining city Soledar in japanese Ukraine was full.

Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu on Wednesday appointed Chief of the Normal Employees Valery Gerasimov as general commander for what Moscow calls its “particular navy operation” in Ukraine, now in its eleventh month.

The change successfully demoted Normal Sergei Surovikin, who was appointed solely in October to guide the invasion and oversaw heavy assaults on Ukraine’s power infrastructure.

In the meantime, Yevgeny Prigozhin, head of Wagner and an in depth ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, mentioned his forces had captured all of Soledar and killed about 500 Ukrainian troopers after heavy preventing.

“I wish to verify the whole liberation and cleaning of the territory of Soledar,” Prigozhin mentioned in an announcement.

“The entire metropolis is plagued by the corpses of Ukrainian troopers,” he mentioned.

U.S. Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin instructed reporters on Wednesday that he couldn’t corroborate studies that Soledar was in Russian palms.

Reuters was unable to independently confirm the scenario in Soledar.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky mocked earlier Wagner claims to have seized a part of Soledar however made no fast touch upon the most recent assertions.

“The terrorist state and its propagandists try to fake that a part of our city of Soledar … is a few kind of a Russian possession,” Zelensky mentioned in a video tackle. “However preventing continues.”

In an announcement on Fb, the Ukrainian navy normal workers mentioned Russian forces have been struggling heavy losses as they tried to take Soledar and sever Ukrainian provide strains.

Russia has struggled to cement management over the city, which might be Russia’s most substantial acquire since August after a sequence of retreats earlier than Ukrainian counter-offensives within the east and south.

Ukrainian navy analyst Oleh Zhdanov mentioned the scenario in Soledar was “approaching that of vital”.

“The Ukrainian armed forces are holding their positions. About one half of the city is below our management. Fierce preventing is happening close to the city centre,” he mentioned on YouTube.

Nonetheless, Zhdanov instructed Ukrainian tv that if Russian forces seized Soledar or close by Bakhmut it could be extra a political victory than navy.

“There’s extra politics than battle right here,” mentioned Zhdanov.

“The Russians, in the event that they take one in all these cities, will attempt to put the occasion on par with capturing Berlin and they’re going to use it for propaganda functions as a lot for the skin market as for home consumption,” he mentioned.

“Inside Russia, it’ll give them the chance to raise the spirits of conscripts and society as a complete. To unite all of them…”

Russian Navy ‘Fall Man’

A Russian Defence Ministry assertion mentioned the command reshuffle was meant to enhance contacts between navy branches and the effectiveness of the command construction.

One outstanding navy blogger who posts on the Telegram messaging app below the identify of Rybar mentioned Surovikin was being made the autumn man for latest Russian navy debacles. These included a Ukrainian assault on a Russian barracks that killed no less than 89 Russian troopers over New Yr’s.

Surovikin was ordered to go the marketing campaign after Ukrainian offensives turned the tide of the battle and drew consideration to poor coaching, tools and morale amongst Russian forces.

If pro-Russian forces achieve taking Soledar, it could be a stepping stone in Moscow’s thrust to seize Ukraine’s japanese Donbas industrial area. The city can be a base to assault the close by metropolis of Bakhmut, a provide line hub in japanese Ukraine, the place defenders have held out for months.

Earlier than Wagner’s newest assertion, the Kremlin stopped in need of claiming victory and acknowledged heavy casualties.

“Let’s not rush, let’s await official statements. There’s a constructive dynamic in progress,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov mentioned.

A Reuters photographer who reached the outskirts of Soledar in latest days mentioned many residents had fled the city in perishing chilly. Smoke may very well be seen rising over the city and the incoming artillery hearth was relentless, she mentioned.

Lacking Britons

Earlier, Russian state information company RIA mentioned Wagner had taken over Soledar’s salt mines and {a photograph} on the militia’s Telegram channel appeared to point out Prigozhin and his fighters inside a mine.

Wagner individually mentioned its forces discovered the physique of one in all two British voluntary assist staff reported lacking in japanese Ukraine. It didn’t give the identify of the useless man. A photograph appeared to point out passports bearing the names of Andrew Bagshaw and Christopher Parry, the 2 lacking staff.

Russia despatched tens of hundreds of troops into Ukraine on Feb. 24, saying Kyiv’s shut ties with the West and ambitions to hitch NATO threatened its safety. Kyiv and its allies accuse Moscow of an unprovoked battle to grab territory in a neighbour it as soon as dominated throughout the former Soviet Union.

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