Volodymyr Zelensky made the statement in a video address to the nation on Monday night.
Ukraine’s president said: “The battle for Donbas continues. And although the invaders have now concentrated their greatest efforts on Soledar, the result of this difficult and long battle will be the liberation of our entire Donbas.”
Zelensky stressed: “I thank all our warriors who defend our Bakhmut and demonstrate maximum resilience! I thank all the warriors in Soledar who withstand new and even tougher attacks of the occupiers!”
Ukraine’s president said that the situation on the ground “is extremely difficult - there are almost no whole walls left…”
He added: “Due to the resilience of our warriors there, in Soledar, we have won for Ukraine additional time and additional strength.”
Zelensky went on to say: “And what did Russia want to gain there? Everything is completely destroyed, there is almost no life left. And thousands of their people were lost: the whole land near Soledar is covered with the corpses of the occupiers and scars from the strikes. This is what madness looks like.”
Bakhmut and Soledar
The towns of Bakhmut and Soledar are situated in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk province, which is part of the wider Donbas region.
Both towns have been the focus of intense Russian efforts to advance in an area where the Kremlin forces have been seeking desperately to make progress since early summer, Britain’s The Guardian newspaper reported.
Ukraine’s Deputy Defence Minister Hanna Maliar said on Monday that Russian troops had begun another attempt to advance on Soledar, according to Polish state news agency PAP.
Maliar stated on the Telegram social messaging app that Russians troops “literally step on corpses of their fellow soldiers, use artillery, multiple launch rocket systems (MLRS) and mortars, opening fire against their own troops,” as quoted by the Ukrinform news agency.
Ukraine’s deputy defence minister stressed that “The Ukrainian military are bravely defending every inch of their native land,” adding that “Fierce battles are raging there right now.”
The Guardian noted that the capture of Soledar, which is located to the north-east of Bakhmut, would put Ukrainian forces in the area in danger of being enveloped and give Russia a potential line of approach against Bakhmut.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian forces were on Monday reinforcing their positions around Bakhmut, following days of relentless attacks by Russian troops led by the Wagner mercenary group, news outlets reported.
Tuesday is day 321 of Russia’s war against Ukraine.
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Source: president.gov.ua, PAP, Reuters, The Guardian, ukrinform.net