uDespite several Russian reports of victory in the small town of Soledar in eastern Ukraine, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy maintains that fighting for the town is continuing. “The hard fight for Donetsk continues,” Zelenskyy said in his daily video address on Friday evening. “The battle for Bakhmut and Soledar, for Kreminna, for other towns and villages in the east of our country continues.” The General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces also announced on Friday evening that the battle for Soledar would continue.
Both the Russian military leadership and the notorious Russian mercenary troupe Wagner deployed at Soledar had announced the conquest of Soledar. Above all, the paramilitary organization Wagner claimed the success for itself, whereupon the Ministry of Defense in Moscow gave in and attributed the victory to the mercenary troop. “They are already biting each other over who should be credited with a tactical advance,” Zelenskyj commented on the dispute. This is already a “clear signal of failure”.
Should Soledar fall, the entire defensive line from Siwersk to Bakhmut, which Kyiv has held since July, will falter. Together with the reports of Russian gains in territory south of Bakhmut, the question for the Ukrainian troops could arise as to how expedient it is to remain there. Should Ukraine surrender Bakhmut, the next targets for the Russian army would be the relatively spared cities of Sloviansk, Kramatorsk, Druzhkivka and Kostyantynivka.
Foreign Minister: Five states ready to deliver Leopard to Kyiv
According to Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, five European countries are ready to supply Kyiv with Leopard-2 main battle tanks. Only Berlin’s approval is missing, said Kuleba on Friday evening, as reported by “Ukrainska Prawda”. Ukraine is “half a step away from solving the tank issue”. France started the discussion with the announced delivery of heavy wheeled armored vehicles. After that, Poland “woke up other countries” with its push to deliver a company of leopards.
After that, Finland also declared its willingness to join a European initiative and hand over Leopard tanks to Ukraine. “And I know at least three other countries that are ready to do this but are not talking about it yet,” said Kuleba. They were still waiting for “the Germans to come out and speak out for it”.
