Russian mercenary group Wagner said on Tuesday it was battling heavy, bloody battles for control of the town of Soledar as part of Russias months-long offensive to capture Ukraines eastern Donetsk area.

On the western outskirts of Soledar there are heavy bloody fights.

The Armed Forces of Ukraine are honorably protecting the territory of Soledar, Wagner founder Yevgeny Prigozhin said on social media.The Kremlin-linked entrepreneur, who has actually been hit with Western sanctions, also dismissed accusations that Ukrainian forces were deserting the front lines en masse in Soledar.

Lets be truthful with ourselves.

The Ukrainian army is bravely fighting for Bakhmut and Soledar.

Reports of their mass desertion are not true, Prigozhin said, pointed out by his press workplace on Telegram.Soledar is around 15 kilometers (9 miles) from the war-battered city of Bakhmut, which has ended up being the focus of battling in current months.The capture of Bakhmut-- a city with a pre-war population of 70,000-- is now among Moscows main military goals practically a year into its Ukraine mission.A Russian proxy official in Donetsk, Denis Pushilin, stated on Tuesday on Russian state tv that Soledar was extremely near to liberation by Moscows forces.He confessed that this came at a really high cost and said Ukrainian forces were still withstanding.

Prigozhin said earlier today that Soledar was being stormed solely by Wagner units, stating they were battling increasingly for the citys administration building.Ukraines President Volodymyr Zelensky said in his late-night address on Monday that his soldiers were withstanding new and even tougher assaults on Soledar.

He said the town had actually been flattened by the battling.

Everything is totally destroyed.

The U.K.s defense ministry said on Monday that Moscows forces were most likely in control of most of Soledar.Prigozhin and Wagners public personality has actually significantly grown because the Kremlin sent soldiers into Ukraine.

The business owner has actually recruited detainees to combat in Ukraine, appealing amnesty upon their return if they survive.