Russian forces in Ukraine try to seize the jap salt-mining city of Soledar in a sustained offensive that Kyiv’s Protection Ministry has described as “maniacal.” On January 10, the pinnacle of the Vagner mercenary group whose troopers are regarded as spearheading the Soledar offensive, Yevgeny Prigozhin, claimed that they had taken practically the entire city however stated there was nonetheless fierce combating within the city middle. Ukraine says their troops are nonetheless battling in Soledar.
Capturing Soledar and its salt mines would have symbolic, navy, and business worth for Russia and could be Moscow’s most substantial battlefield acquire in months after struggling a sequence of setbacks. There are estimated to be 200 kilometers of disused mining tunnels criss-crossing the encircling space.
In 2019, RFE/RL’s Amos Chapple visited Soledar because the salt-mining operation hoped to crack Western markets after Russia blocked its imports.
(Initially printed on June 15, 2019.)
