Ukraine: As Moscow announced a new military commander in Ukraine, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Wednesday that fighting was still raging in a key eastern frontline city that a Russian mercenary group previously claimed control of.

The fate of Soledar in eastern Ukraine was uncertain after the Russian group Wagner claimed control — but the Kremlin warned against declaring victory too soon.

In his daily address, Zelensky claimed that the front was "holding."

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The terrorist state and its propagandists are attempting to "pretend" to have achieved some successes in Soledar, according to Zelensky, "but the fighting continues."

The battle for Soledar has been described as long and brutal by both Moscow and Kiev. If it is taken by Russian forces, it will be Russia's first significant territorial gain in Ukraine in months.

The war-torn salt mining town in eastern Donetsk is about 15 kilometres (nine miles) from Bakhmut, a larger urban hub that Russia has been attempting to seize. Yevgeny Prigozhin, the leader of the Wagner Group, claimed on Wednesday that his forces had "taken control of the entire territory of Soledar," while "urban battles" were being fought in the city centre.

The Russian state news agency RIA Novosti published a photograph of Prigozhin with armed fighters that it claimed was taken in the Soledar salt mines.
According to the Ukrainian military, the photos were taken elsewhere. The Russian defence ministry also advised caution, stating that "official announcements" should be made first.

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On Wednesday, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told reporters that the US could not confirm reports that Soledar had fallen and that the city had "gone back and forth a number of times, and it really is some pretty brutal fighting."

A wounded Ukrainian soldier waiting to be evacuated on the road between Bakhmut and the city of Sloviansk further west said the fighting in Soledar was the toughest his brigade had seen.

But "nobody is planning to leave the city," the 27-year-old, known as Bober (Beaver), told AFP.

Meanwhile, Moscow announced that army chief of staff Valery Gerasimov would be in charge of the Ukraine conflict.

The defence ministry announced Wednesday that Sergei Surovikin, the commander of Russia's forces in Ukraine for the past three months, will become Gerasimov's deputy.

According to analysts, the conflicting statements surrounding Soledar point to infighting among Russian forces, which have been attempting to capture the entirety of Ukraine's eastern Donbas region since failing to take Kyiv last year.

Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhaylo Podolyak told AFP that while Russia suffered "enormous" losses in the battle for the town, the Ukrainian side also suffered casualties.

According to him, the fighting there and in neighbouring Bakhmut is the "bloodiest" of the war so far. Earlier this week, Zelensky claimed that fighting had flattened Soledar and that everything had been "completely destroyed."

The president also stated on Wednesday that he had visited the western Ukrainian city of Lviv, near the border with EU member Poland, for talks on coordination and "border protection," including the situation on Ukraine's northern border with Belarus.

Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko, a close ally of Moscow, allowed Russian troops to use his country as a launchpad for their invasion in February.

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Fears of a northern frontline opening arose after Belarus announced the formation of a joint force with Moscow in the autumn. Currently, the fighting is centred in the east and south.

On Wednesday, an exploding Russian shell started a fire at a maternity ward in the southern region of Kherson.

"A powerful blast wave damaged one of the doctors' offices and knocked out windows in the children's ward," regional governor Yaroslav Yanushevych said, adding that one employee was injured.

On Tuesday, Russian strikes targeted Ukraine's second city of Kharkiv, following a surprise visit by German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock.

Baerbock pledged more German support for Kyiv, but her Ukrainian counterpart, Dmytro Kuleba, who accompanied her, said Berlin's refusal to send battle tanks to Kyiv was costing lives.

Last week, French President Emmanuel Macron promised Zelensky that France would send light tanks made in France to Kyiv, making France the first Western country to do so and putting pressure on Germany.

Separately, Poland's President Andrzej Duda stated on Wednesday that his country is prepared to send Leopard tanks to Ukraine, but only "within an international coalition."