SOLEDAR (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 30th April, 2023) Ukrainian troops did not destroy munitions and weapons depots created in salt mines in the village of Paraskoviivka in Donbas in the 1960s, soldiers from the Russian Wagner Group private military company told Sputnik, showing the depots to the reporters.
In January, Russian forces took full control of Paraskoviivka and the city of Soledar located near the city of Bakhmut, also known as Artyomovsk, in Donbas, with large salt mines partially used as munitions depots brought under Russia's control as well. Last July, media reported that Ukrainian forces had allegedly destroyed the depots.
"(Ukrainians) were taking (weapons) out (of depots) without hurrying. Later, all depots were mined so as to be destroyed, meaning that they had taken necessary weapons, left the rest and mined," a Wagner Group soldier said, adding that Ukrainian troops had failed to destroy the depots as they had wrongly connected the wires of explosive devices.
Although Ukrainian forces had taken some weapons, there were still big amounts of firearms and munitions left, the soldier added.
Soledar was of strategic importance for Kiev, with Ukraine's major defensive fortifications located there. Moscow's control over Soledar allowed Russian forces to cut the supply route between the cities of Bakhmut and Siversk and approach Bakhmut from the north.
