Soledar: Difference between revisions - Wikipedia

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On January 11, 2023, after days of uncertainty as to whether Russia controlled the city, it was reported that Russia had definitively secured control of Soledar.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Ukraine confirms that Russia has taken control of disputed town of Soledar |url=https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/ukraine-confirms-that-russia-has-taken-control-of-disputed-town-of-soledar/ar-AA16nYjG |access-date=17 January 2023}}</ref> By the end of the battle, the settlement was almost entirely destroyed, with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky saying that "barely any walls in Soledar remain[ed] standing".<ref name=RuClaimBBC/> According to Donetsk Oblast governor [[Pavlo Kyrylenko]], of the pre-invasion population of 10,490,<ref name=2022popdemo/> only "559 civilians including 15 children" remained in the settlement by 13 January.<ref name=RuClaimBBC>{{cite web |title= Russia claims control of salt mine town Soledar |url= https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-64263119 |date=13 January 2023 |access-date=13 January 2023}}</ref>

Analysts were divided over the value of Soledar, with some stating that a Russian victory in Soledar would be "[[Pyrrhic victory|pyrrhic]] at best".<ref name="Guardian 13012023">{{Cite web |date=2023-01-13 |title='Hellish' battle for Soledar symbolises state of Russia's war in Ukraine |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/jan/13/hellish-battle-soledar-symbolises-russia-war-ukraine |access-date=13 January 2023-01-14 |websiteaccess-date=the4 GuardianApril 2024}}</ref> However, the capture of Soledar, Russia's first territorial gain since July 2022, gave Russia both a morale-boosting victory and territorial gain, arresting the pattern of Russian military reverses in the second half of 2022. Russian forces used Soledar as a staging post to press onto Bakhmut, which they took several months later, in May 2023.<ref>{{cite news|title=With the loss of Soledar, Ukrainian positions in Bakhmut jeopardized|url=https://www.yahoo.com/now/loss-soledar-ukrainian-positions-bakhmut-091058838.html?guccounter=1|work=The Kyiv Independent|date=22 January 2023|access-date=25 December 2023}}</ref><ref name=EnglishDW/><ref name= Soledarfacts/>

Over the following months, Russia reported periodic Ukrainian attacks on Soledar, which it claimed to have repelled. Soledar remains in ruins, and as of 2024 is believed to be completely or nearly unpopulated.<ref name= "Alarabiya">{{cite web |title= Russia claims repelling Ukraine's 'offensive operations' in direction of Soledar |url= https://english.alarabiya.net/News/world/2023/05/12/Russia-claims-repulsing-Ukraine-s-offensive-operations-in-direction-of-Soledar |date=12 May 2023 |access-date=22 December 2023}}</ref>