Russia’s Wagner Group chief says troops have taken Soledar

The head of Russia’s mercenary Wagner Group has claimed to have secured control of the salt mining town of Soledar in Ukraine’s east, but uncertainty remains amid continued battles in the city centre.

Soledar has been the focus of days of intense fighting as Russia has viewed it as key to its campaign for the nearby strategic city of Bakhmut and Ukraine’s larger eastern Donbas region.