As the war in Ukraine intensified, both parties made conflicting claims The eastern city of Soledar of Ukraine on Tuesday.

What happened: While the Russian leader Wladimir Putin–associated mercenary group Wagner group claimed control of Ukraine’s Soledar, the war-torn nation said its forces would hold out.

“Wagner units took control of the entire Soledar area. A witch’s cauldron has formed in the middle of the city, in which urban battles are taking place,” says the Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhina Putin ally said on Telegram.

“The number of prisoners will be announced tomorrow,” Prigozhin said without giving further details.

Soledar has recently seen intense fighting as Moscow considers it a key city in its own right Campaign to seize control of the strategic city of Bakhmut and the larger eastern Donbass region.

British intelligence had previously said that the Russian army and Wagner fighters were likely to have taken control of most of Soledar following the recent forays. Soledar and its vast salt mines are important to Russia, but the current situation seemed fluid as Prigozhin said fighting continued in Soledar, despite his statement that the town was under Wagner’s control.

Meanwhile the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy did not mention the control of Soledar in his Tuesday night address. Although Zelenskyy repeated his call for more weapons from alliesand said Putin is gathering his forces to intensify his campaign.

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