Russian forces are “moving over their own corpses” as casualties mount following weeks of intense fighting in eastern Donetsk.
The battlefield in salt mining town Soledar is covered with bodies as Ukrainian troops hold out their positions despite waves of Russian attacks.
The ultra-nationalist Russian mercenary group Wagner, run by an ally of president Vladimir Putin outside the normal chain of military command, has claimed to have taken Soledar after days of intense fighting that left it strewn with Ukrainian dead.
Moscow has so far held off proclaiming victory there. Meanwhile, Ukraine has acknowledged Russian advances but said on Thursday its own garrison had not withdrawn.
“Fighting is fierce,” Ukrainian deputy defence minister Hanna Malyar said in a briefing on Thursday, adding that the Russians were “moving over their own corpses”.
Reuters was unable to independently verify the situation inside Soledar.
Elsewhere, Putin replaced Russia’s most senior general leading the war, Sergei Surovikin, dubbed “General Armageddon” in a reshuffle that has seen chief of the general staff Valery Gerasimov named overall commander.
