Russian troops have launched a “powerful assault” on the salt-mining town of Soledar near Bakhmut and inched closer to taking control of the territory, British and Ukrainian authorities say. Ukraine’s Defense Ministry announced late Monday that fierce street battles were underway in the town after Russian forces regrouped, changed strategy, and stormed the area. “The enemy is literally advancing over the dead bodies of their own soldiers, massively using artillery, multiple rocket launchers and mortars, and covering even their own soldiers with fire,” the ministry said, adding that Ukrainian troops are still defending the town. The U.K.’s Ministry of Defense, meanwhile, warned that Russia’s notorious Wagner Group had pushed further into the area and are “likely in control of most of the settlement.” The move is widely seen as a bid to encircle the embattled city of Bakhmut from the north, which would be a huge symbolic victory for Wagner.
