Russia changes commander again in Ukraine as battle for Soledar rages
While the Russian private military company Wagner Group claimed to have fully captured the salt mining town of Soledar in eastern Ukraine, the Ukrainian military claimed that the battle had not yet been won. Moscow then named a new commander for its invasion of Ukraine.
On Wednesday, Valery Gerasimov, the chief of the general staff, was named by Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu as the overall commander of what Moscow refers to as its “special military operation” in Ukraine, which is currently in its eleventh month.
General Sergei Surovikin, who had been been selected in October to head the invasion and direct intense attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, was inadvertently degraded by the shift.
In the meantime, Yevgeny Prigozhin, leader of Wagner and a close supporter of Russian President Vladimir Putin, said that his forces had completely taken Soledar after fierce combat and killed over 500 Ukrainian soldiers.
In a statement, Prigozhin stated, “I want to confirm the entire liberation and cleansing of the region of Soledar.”
The bodies of Ukrainian servicemen are all throughout the city, he claimed.
On Wednesday, U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told reporters he was unable to confirm claims that Soledar was in Russian hands.
559 residents, including 15 children, are still in Soledar, according to Donetsk Governor Pavlo Kyrylenko, who told Ukrainian state television that it was impossible to evacuate them because of the ongoing fighting. The community had about 10,500 residents before the conflict.
