Miroshnik said that Ukraine lost about 25 thousand people in the battles for Soledar

MOSCOW, 11 January. /TASS/

According to the former ambassador of the Lugansk People's Republic in Moscow, these are irreparable losses that "will affect the further combat capability of the Armed Forces of Ukraine"

The Armed Forces of Ukraine (APU) lost about 25 thousand people in the battles for the city of Soledar in the Donetsk People's Republic (DPR), these losses are irreparable. This was stated in an interview with a TASS correspondent by the former ambassador of the Luhansk People's Republic in Moscow, Rodion Miroshnik.

"Ukraine paid an incredible price for the political expediency of preserving Soledar, incommensurable with reality. <...> As a result, they put in two and a half times more military men for keeping the city with a once-ten thousand population. Only the colonial regime of puppets is ready for such sacrifices ", - he said. According to Miroshnik, these are irreparable losses, which "will affect the further combat capability of the Armed Forces of Ukraine."

"Throwing understaffed and undertrained units into battle, [Ukrainian President Volodymyr] Zelensky's regime tried to create a myth about the possibility of Ukraine's victory," the ex-ambassador added. On Wednesday night, Russian businessman Yevgeny Prigozhin said that Soledar, for which fighting had been going on in recent days, was taken under control by Wagner PMC fighters and that a cauldron was formed in the city center in which battles were being fought.

On Wednesday, Lieutenant-General Igor Konashenkov, spokesman for the Russian Defense Ministry, informed that Russian troops had blocked Soledar from the north and south, and fighting was underway in the city. Military-political expert, and adviser to the acting head of the DPR, Yan Gagin, told TASS that up to 500 Ukrainian troops could remain in Soledar, which was taken under the control of Russian forces.