The fate of a devastated salt-mining town in eastern Ukraine is hanging in the balance. Ukraine says its forces are holding out against a furious Russian onslaught in one of the fiercest and bloodiest recent ground battles of the nearly 11-month war. Soledar is under heavy shelling by Russian forces using jets, mortars and rockets. Ukraine's deputy defense minister on Wednesday denied Russian claims that Soledar had fallen. In an apparent recognition of battlefield setbacks, Russia's Defense Ministry announced the replacement of the head of Russian forces in Ukraine. The former chief was demoted to deputy after three months on the job, signaling that President Vladimir Putin wasn't fully satisfied with his performance.
Ukrainian officials say Russian forces are escalating their onslaught against Ukrainian positions around the wrecked eastern city of Bakhmut. The officials say the intense attack is bringing new levels of death and devastation in the grinding, monthslong battle for control of eastern Ukraine that is part of Moscow's wider war. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said there is "almost no life left" around Bakhmut and the nearby Donetsk province city of Soledar. He added that "this is what madness looks like." A deputy Ukrainian defense minister says Russian forces are advancing "literally on the bodies of their own soldiers." The Kremlin is hungry for any victories after its invasion of Ukraine suffered numerous reversals.
