More than one hundred Russian troops were killed Thursday in the ongoing attempt to capture the Ukrainian town of Soledar, according to Kyiv officials, leaving desperate invading forces “moving over their own corpses.”
A day after Russian mercenaries claimed that the devastated salt-mining town in the Donestk region of eastern Ukraine was under the “complete control” of Russian forces, the Ukrainian military boasted about the number.
Ukraine stated that it used a tactical missile, two machine guns, and two mortar units to “destroy more than one hundred occupiers.” It also distributed videos of troops being eliminated.
The Border Patrol also reported that mercenaries from the Wagner Group, a feared pro-Kremlin mercenary force comprised primarily of freed prisoners, were among those forced to retreat due to heavy losses.
Ukraine’s military also released footage of Russian soldiers being eliminated in combat.
Thursday’s briefing was led by Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Malyar, who stated, “The fighting is fierce.”
“The enemy continues its assaults, but is suffering heavy losses,” she said, noting that the Russians were “moving over their own corpses.”
In televised statements, the governor of Donetsk, Ukraine, Pavlo Kyrylenko, confirmed that more than 100 Russians had been killed in continuing battle in Soledar over the preceding 24 hours.
Kyrylenko stated, “The Russians have literally marched over the bodies of their own soldiers while torching everything in their path.”
He warned that 559 residents, including 15 children, were unable to flee the town due to the continued conflict.
“Civilians are attempting to survive in the midst of this bloodbath as the Russians continue their offensive,” Kyrylenko said.
The Ukrainian claims were made a day after Wagner commander Yevgeny Prigozhin declared “the total liberation and purification of Soledar’s territory.”
He said that over 500 individuals were killed and that “the entire city is littered with the bodies of Ukrainian soldiers.”
Dmitry Peskov, spokesman for the Kremlin, refused to make the same assertion on Thursday, although hailing the “huge work…done in Soledar.”
“There is still a lot to be done and it’s too early to stop and rub our hands, the main work is still ahead,” he said in a conference call with reporters.
The Institute for the Study of Campaign (ISW) determined that “Russian forces have not yet captured Soledar” — which would be the first such success in several months of Vladimir Putin’s disastrous 11-month war.
Before the conflict, Soledar had fewer than 10,000 inhabitants, and Russia has failed in repeated attempts to seize neighbouring Bakhmut, which is far larger and more vital.
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky ridiculed the concept that Russia’s victories were significant.
“Now the terrorist state and its propagandists are attempting to claim that a portion of our city of Soledar – a city that was almost entirely destroyed by the occupiers – is some sort of Russian achievement,” he added in a nocturnal address.