Ukraine: Moscow Claims First Major Victory In Months; Russian Artillery Down Three-Fourth From War-Time High

The head of Russian Private Military Company (PMC) claimed the capture of the Ukrainian salt-mine city of Soledar after months of brutal fighting, reports the Guardian.

Soledar lies close to a highway which if cut will allow Russia to capture a significant chunk of Ukrainian territory. A soldier fighting for Ukraine in Soledar has told CNN that the situation at the city is critical and the death toll is so high that “no one counts the dead”.

This soldier is from the 46th air mobile brigade defending Soledar from the Russian PMC.

However, the Ukrainian Ministry of Defence has denied these Russian claims. Serhiv Cherevatyi, spokesperson, Eastern group of the armed forces of Ukraine says: “Russians say that it is under their control, it is not true”.

Meanwhile, CNN quoted from US and Ukrainian official reports, Russia’s artillery fire is dramatically down from the wartime high of almost 50,000 to 60,000 shells per day to 20,000 shells per day.

This could be either due to a change in strategy of the Russian commander General Sergey Surovikin or due to the depletion of stockpiles or some other reason which cannot be ascertained as of now.

In another development, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock narrowly escaped Russian bombing in Kharkiv, an eastern city of Ukraine. She was on a surprise visit to Kharkiv with her Ukrainian counterpart. The Russians struck the city hours after she left Kharkiv.

She was in Ukraine promising more weapons and support from the European Union. Her visit raised hopes of Germany providing Leopard-2 tanks to Ukraine, which it has been reluctant to do for months. Germany has recently announced that it would provide Marder infantry fighting vehicles.

While fighting is raging in the eastern and south-eastern parts of Ukraine, the two countries have agreed to exchange 40 prisoners. Tatyana Moskalkova, the Russian human rights commissioner, announced in an agreement with her Ukrainian counterpart Dmytro Lubinets in Turkey.