MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 13th January, 2023) More than 700 Ukrainian military and over 300 Ukrainian weapon units have been destroyed in Soledar in the past 72 hours, the Russian Defense Ministry said on Friday.
"Only in the past three days, more than 700 Ukrainian military and over 300 units of Ukrainian armed forces have been destroyed in the area of the city of Soledar," the ministry said.
The ministry added that the complex of measures implemented by the Russian troops ensured the successful offensive actions to liberate Soledar.
The capture of Soledar in the Donetsk People's Republic has opened the way to the bridgehead of Sloviansk and Kramatorsk, which can become a turning point in wrestling control over the entire territory of DPR from Ukraine, according to DPR acting head Denis Pushilin.
Vitaly Kiselev, a senior militia officer in the neighboring Luhansk People's Republic, said Friday that British nationals killed on the Soledar battlefield appeared to be instructors or observers sent to bolster Ukraine's military capability.
"Anyway, they were part of the (Ukrainian armed forces' 77th) air assault brigade," he told Russia's Channel 1.
Kiselev cited people living in the city of Siversk, not far from Soledar, who said there were English- and Polish-speaking foreigners roaming around Siversk. The Luhansk militia officer suggested that surviving foreign mercenaries had fled to Siversk.
