According to the Ukrainian General Staff, fierce battles are now taking place in Soledar in the Donbass. However, information about the capture of the city began to appear more and more often in the information field, which information technology experts call IPSO. The American channel CNN recently concluded that the Russians control the city, referring to a fake page of the 46th brigade of the Armed Forces of the Armed Forces involved in the fighting.. Meanwhile, The Telegraph writes that the Russian military on Friday night was forced to admit that the city of Soledar was "

The Russian Ministry of Defense first announced on Friday that Soledar had been “liberated” by the “brave paratroopers” of this department..

However, this version of events was quickly denied by the head of the Wagner group's mercenaries, Yevgeny Prigozhin, stating that "

In a humiliating acknowledgment to the aforementioned PMC, the Russian military subsequently released a new statement stating: “This combat mission was successfully completed thanks to the courageous and selfless actions of the volunteers of the Wagner Airborne Assault Force.”.

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The Kremlin’s public dispute with Wagner threatened to derail its first significant victory since the Luhansk region of Donbass was declared captured in July. Since that time, the Russian army was defeated near Kharkov in the northeast and retreated from Kherson in the south..

It also highlights the growing power and influence of the Wagner Group, which supports the Kremlin but operates separately from the Russian military..

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Earlier this year, the Kremlin ordered Wagner to beef up its regular forces, allowing it to openly recruit across Russia and its prisons, but the Wagner chain of command has slowly split and now answers only to Prigozhin..

Confidence in the Russian army plummeted after its defeats on the battlefield and the chaotic mobilization of 320,000 men in September. Putin tinkered with his military command in Ukraine by appointing his third general to lead the invasion this week.

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The dispute between Wagner and the Russian army has escalated over the past few months, with Prigozhin regularly accusing the Russian army of incompetence and touting Wagner as an alternative army..

The Russian military treats Prigozhin and Wagner with contempt, like a pack of shabby ex-convicts who are not trustworthy..

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Some analysts argue that the capture of Soledar could allow Russian troops to outflank the Ukrainian military in the battle for Bakhmut, a nearby town that has been heavily fought over since August, but others say its only real value is earning its master's favor.. Putin, desperate to win on the battlefield.

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Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine Andriy Yermak called the fighting around the city and Bakhmut " The Battle of Verdun was the longest battle of the First World War and resulted in huge casualties..