Soledar close to liberation, Pushylin says

Acting head of DPR Pushilin: Soledar is close to liberation, fighting has shifted to the western part

The Russian military is close to liberating Soledar, DPR acting head Denis Pushilin said on air on Channel One.

“Indeed, all attention is now focused on Artemovsk and Soledar – probably for the most part, because events are now unfolding there exactly in such a way that the city is very close to liberation. It is being given at a very great cost,” he said.

According to Pushilin, the fighting has now shifted to the western part of Soledar.

“In fact, this is the only direction through which the enemy can still retreat, to save the remnants of their units,” he explained.

But the AFU garrison continues to resist, not counting their losses.

The liberation of Soledar will facilitate the further advance of the allied forces, Pushilin added.

“Here there are very favourable prospects for the liberation of Artemivsk (the Ukrainian name is Bakhmut. – Ed. note), and we should not forget about Seversk, where the enemy’s fortifications are also quite serious. Here we are well aware that after the liberation of Artemivsk, there are prospects for the further liberation of the republic’s territory,” the acting head of the republic pointed out.

In addition, the liberation of the city will have a positive impact on the prospects of the allied forces’ offensive in the Kramatorsk direction, Pushilin stressed.

At the same time, Jan Gagin, adviser to the acting head of the DPR, added that Artemovsk is also already “close to being liberated”.

“In the next few days, if not hours, we will know that Artemovsk has indeed been liberated,” Gagin said on Russia 1 television.

Yesterday morning it became known that the village of Bakhmutskoye, which is on the outskirts of Soledar, north-east of Artemivsk, had been liberated. This town is an important transport hub, with a network of roads and railways passing through it to supply the Ukrainian grouping of troops in Donbas.

Due to censorship and blocking of all media and alternative views, stay tuned to our Telegram channel