Fate of Ukraine's Soledar uncertain as Wagner claims control

(ANSA-AFP) - KRAMATORSK, JAN 12 - Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said fighting is still raging in a key eastern frontline city that a Russian mercenary group earlier said it controlled, as Moscow announced a new military commander in Ukraine. The fate of Soledar in eastern Ukraine was uncertain after Russian group Wagner claimed it controlled the gateway town -- but the Kremlin cautioned against declaring victory prematurely. In his daily address Wednesday, Zelensky insisted the front was "holding". "The terrorist state and its propagandists are trying to pretend" to have achieved some successes in Soledar, Zelensky said, "but the fighting continues". Both Moscow and Kyiv have said the battle has been long and brutal. If Soledar did fall to Moscow's forces, it would be Russia's first significant territorial gain in Ukraine for months. The war-battered salt mining town in the eastern Donetsk region lies about 15 kilometres (nine miles) from Bakhmut, a larger urban hub that Russia has been trying to seize. (ANSA-AFP).

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