Russia's Wagner Group Claims, Deputy Minister Of Defense Of Ukraine: Battle Of Sentit, But We Hold On

Illustration of soldiers in the Soler war, eastern Ukraine. (Source: Twitter/@DefenceU/Viktor Borinets)

JAKARTA - Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Malyar said on Thursday it would continue despite the fierce war in the country's eastern region of Soler.

He explained at a press conference that the number of Russian military units in Ukraine had increased to 280 from 250 a week earlier, along with Moscow trying to get strategic initiatives.

"The fighting was fierce towards Soler. They (Russia) were moving on their own bodies," he said.

"Russia pushed thousands of its own people to be slaughtered, but we survived," he continued.

Another senior military official, Brigadier General Oleksify Gromov, said in a briefing that the military situation in Ukraine remains "difficult", with the toughest fighting on the east front.

Russian troops tried to cut off Ukrainian lines and surrounded Ukrainian troops, he said.

Meanwhile Serhiy Cherevatyi, a spokesman for Ukraine's eastern military command, told Ukrainian TV that there was a persistent shooting in Soleredar.

"The enemy tried to take the initiative and attack. But they failed to penetrate our defenses."

Earlier, the Wagner Group's ultra-nationalist mercenaries, run by ally President Vladimir Putin outside the main chain of military command, claimed to have seized Soler after a fierce battle that it said had seen the city filled with dead Ukrainians. But Moscow has postponed officially to proclaim victory.

"Currently, there are still some small pockets of resistance in Soledar," said Andrei Bayevsky, a local Russian politician, in an online broadcast.