Kyiv and Moscow reported fierce fighting for the towns of Soledar and Bakhmut in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine, as the country’s police service said it was searching for two British volunteers who disappeared in the area while doing aid work.
Russian forces claimed on Monday to have taken control of Bakhmutske, a village on the outskirts of Soledar and some 7km northeast of the bigger town of Bakhmut, which have been the focus of attacks by Moscow’s military and the Wagner mercenary group for several weeks.
“In the Donetsk direction, Russian troops continue offensive operations. Comprehensive [artillery] fire damage is being inflicted on units of the armed forces of Ukraine along that whole section of the frontline,” the defence ministry in Moscow said.
Ukrainian deputy defence minister Hanna Maliar said that “after an unsuccessful attempt to capture Soledar and a retreat, the enemy regrouped … deployed additional assault units, changed tactics and launched a powerful attack”.
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“The enemy has now deployed a large number of assault groups formed from the best reserves of the Wagner troops. The enemy is advancing literally on the corpses of their own soldiers, massively using artillery, multiple rocket launchers and mortars, and exposing even their own fighters to fire,” she added.
“Our defenders bravely defend every metre of their native land. Fierce battles are continuing this very minute.”
Military analysts say both sides have suffered heavy losses during weeks of fighting for Bakhmut and Soledar, even though they would not represent a major strategic gain for Russia, which has claimed sovereignty over the whole of Donetsk region.
“The cherry on the cake is the system of Soledar and Bakhmut mines, which is actually a network of underground cities. It not only [has the ability to hold] a big group of people at a depth of 80-100 metres, but tanks and infantry fighting vehicles can also move about,” Yevgeny Prigozhin, founder of the Wagner group, said at the weekend.
A network of salt and other mines in the area is believed to comprise more than 200km of tunnels and huge chambers which were a tourist attraction before the war.
Wagner mercenaries are accused of profiting from raw materials in areas that they operate in Africa, and a White House official said in recent days that Mr Prigozhin wants to control the salt and gypsum mines in Donetsk, where he has sent convicts recruited from jail to fight alongside his group’s regular forces.
“Bakhmut is holding out, despite everything. And although most of the city is destroyed by Russian strikes, our warriors repel constant Russian attempts to attack. Soledar is holding out. Although there is even more destruction there and it is extremely tough,” Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Sunday night.
The Ukrainian police service said it was looking for two British citizens, named in Ukraine as Andrew Bagshaw and Christopher Parry, who were delivering food and evacuating civilians in frontline areas of Donetsk region.
The police said their disappearance had been reported on Saturday evening, a day after they had set off for Soledar from the Kyiv-controlled town of Kramatorsk, about 50km to the west.
[ Ukraine seeks more weapons to thwart Russian bid to ‘turn tide’ of warOpens in new window ]
The foreign office in London said: “We are supporting the families of two British men who have gone missing in Ukraine.”
Pope Francis said on Monday that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine had created a “wake of death and destruction” and that “every act of war directed to the indiscriminate destruction of whole cities or vast areas with their inhabitants is a crime against God and humanity which merits firm and unequivocal condemnation”.
