Russia’s Wagner Group claims ‘liberation’ of Soledar, says about 500 Ukrainians killed

Minutes before, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had mocked earlier Russian claims that it controlled part of the town and said fighting continued.

Wagner head Yevgeny Prigozhin on Tuesday announced his forces had control over Soledar, but said battles were still raging in the city centre. On Wednesday, he made no mention of continuing clashes.

“I want to confirm the complete liberation and cleansing of the territory of Soledar from units of the Ukrainian army... Ukrainian units that did not want to surrender were destroyed,” he said in a statement.

Wagner forces “killed about 500 people. The whole city is littered with the corpses of Ukrainian soldiers.”

(Reporting by David Ljunggren; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)