New images published by U.S. satellite imagery company Maxar shows before and after images of the besieged city of Soledar in Ukraine's Donetsk Oblast.
The first image published by Maxar on Twitter shows Soledar before Aug. 1, 2022. The second shows a part of the city after Jan. 10, 2023, revealing apartment buildings that have been completely destroyed.
The salt-mining town of Soledar is “almost completely destroyed,” but the fighting continues, and the eastern front line is “holding,” President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Jan. 11.
Russia's Defense Ministry alleged on Jan. 11 that Russian paratroopers had blocked Soledar from the north and south.
Serhiy Cherevaty, a spokesman for Ukraine's Eastern Military Command, on Jan. 11 denied Russian claims that the town of Soledar in Donetsk Oblast is “under Russian control.”
“It is not true. Wait for details in the (upcoming) General Staff report," Cherevaty told Suspilne television.
Soledar is located just above Bakhmut, also under siege as Russia looks to capture the area as part of its larger goal of taking control of the entirety of Donetsk Oblast, which it has partly occupied since 2014.