Russia’s defense ministry said on Friday that its forces had taken control of the town of Soledar, hours after Ukraine said its forces were still holding the mining town after a “hot” night of fighting.

Russian troops captured the city on Thursday evening, which had been the subject of heavy fighting and shelling for a long time, the Russian Defense Ministry said, citing Reuters.

This will now allow his troops to cut off access to Ukrainian forces in the nearby and much larger city of Bakhmut, the quoted source added.

Earlier on Friday morning, Deputy Defense Minister of Ukraine Hanna Malyar reported that the defense forces were still holding, adding that “the night in Soledar was hot, the fighting continued.”

“The enemy has transferred almost all the main forces to the Donetsk direction and is conducting a high-intensity offensive. Our fighters are trying to resist with great courage. This is a difficult phase of the war, but we will win. There are no doubts,” she wrote in Telegram.

The Institute for the Study of War (ISW) said in an assessment released late Thursday that Russia’s alleged capture of Soledar is not a significant operational development and is unlikely to signal Russia’s imminent encirclement of Bakhmut.

Russian intelligence operations greatly exaggerate the importance of Soledar, which is at best a Russian tactical victory “à la Pirus.”

ISW continues to assess that the capture of Soledar – a settlement of less than 14 square kilometers – will not allow Russian forces to control critical Ukrainian land lines of communication in Bakhmut, nor will it improve the position of Russian forces for a short-range encirclement of the city. term.

On Thursday evening, the Ukrainians announced that more than 100 Russian soldiers died in the battle near Soledar in just one day: “For every 100 meters, Russia pays with 50 dead.”

• Link: PHOTOS Satellite images of Soledar, the Ukrainian city where the fiercest fighting is currently taking place