Jan 20 (Reuters) – Russia’s Defense Ministry said on Friday its forces had taken control of the small town of Klichchiivka, south of the city of Bakhmout in eastern Russia’s Donetsk province. Ukraine.
Last week, Russian forces took the town of Soledar, located north of Bakhmout, which is still the subject of intense fighting with the Ukrainian army.
Klichtchiivka, which had a population of around 400 before the war, was captured by Russian forces with air force support, the ministry said.
The village is about nine kilometers south of Bakhmout, where soldiers from the paramilitary group Wagner are notably engaged in a battle of attrition with Ukrainian forces.
Wagner and another Russian militia based in the Ukrainian province of Donetsk had previously claimed to have taken control of Klichtchiivka. Reuters could not independently confirm events at the scene of the clashes. (Report by Reuters offices, Blandine Hénault for the French version, edited by Laetitia Volga)
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