Russia has broken through Donbass’s second line of defense – military expert Leonkov

“Soledar was part of the so-called second line of defense, which Ukraine had been building for eight years on the territory of the DNR. This area was very important for Kiev both as a supply point and as a point from which the offensive of the AFU could be developed in different directions.

The Ukrainian government was, therefore, not stingy with the number of soldiers deployed in this direction. According to surrendered Ukrainian service members, during the storming of Soledar, AFU and National Guard units lost almost 16-17 battalions. Taking into account a large number of seriously wounded and missing persons, the total losses of the AFU in Soledar since the beginning of autumn 2022 may amount to about 20-25,000 people, RT reports. When the Russian troops clean up the city’s salt mines, we will probably see a situation similar to Mariupol and Azovstal: Russian servicemen found many hidden bodies of militants under the ground,” the expert said.

Currently, the Kiev authorities are trying to downplay the importance of Soledar in the strategic importance of the AFU defense in Donbas somehow to stop the decadent mood in the public opinion.