Russia nears breakthrough after months of ‘savage’ fighting in eastern Ukraine

Russian forces appear close to capturing a small but strategically important town on the front lines of the war in eastern Ukraine.

Russian soldiers and the Wagner group’s mercenary fighters were engaged in bitter fighting for the mining town of Soledar, officials in Kyiv and its Western allies said Tuesday, control of which could finally hand them a breakthrough in their bid to seize the key nearby city of Bakhmut.

Moscow s troops had escalated their assault on defensive positions around Bakhmut, the officials said, after months of fierce fighting that has left the once-thriving city in the industrial Donbas region largely ruined.

Control of Bakhmut would likely be seen as a significant, if costly, victory for the Kremlin, which has suffered repeated setbacks on the battlefield and rare signs of disquiet at home as the war approaches the one-year mark. It would also boost the standing of Yevgeny Prigozhin, the founder of the Wagner group and an ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin who has emerged as a public face of the war behind his vocal criticism of Moscow’s established military leaders.

via www.nbcnews.com

This wouldn’t be happening if Nato (including the US) had gotten enough tanks and missiles to the Ukrainians. About the savagery of this fighting, you don’t want to know.