Soledar, the town of salt: why it will be significant for Russia to manage this Ukrainian enclave

However, the picture of the Russian mercenaries from the ‘Wagner group’ strolling by way of the desolate and dilapidated streets of the city, situated 80 kilometers from Donetsk, is an injection of morale for the battered invading troops.

With simply over 10,000 inhabitants, a lot of Soledar’s curiosity lies exactly in its identify, which in Ukrainian and Russian means ‘reward of salt’.

The battle of Soledar has been bloody; it has claimed lots of of lives on either side. What curiosity does that enclave have within the theater of operations? Why is Soledar necessary for Russia?

Strengthen the hardest

For Moscow, the triumph in Soledar has extra symbolic and propaganda worth than navy or strategic worth. It morally reinforces the chief of the ‘Wagner group’ Yevgeny Prigozhin and people like him who symbolize the sector furthest to the appropriate of Vladimir Putin. The hardest haven’t hidden their criticism of the Russian navy management for its incapability to subdue the Ukrainian ‘Nazis’ for the reason that begin on February 24, 2022 of the ‘Special Military Operation’ in Ukraine.

Yevgeny Prigozhin Mikhail Svetlov

Bridge to Bakhmut

From a strategic viewpoint, Soledar cleared the best way to take neighboring Bakhmut from the north, scene of a few of the bloodiest episodes for the reason that begin of the conflict. It could be a Russian advance to the west, throughout the 1,300-kilometre entrance line of blood and hearth preventing.

The Russian Defense Ministry says that management of Soledar is “necessary for the continuation of profitable offensive operations within the Donetsk area” and that it permits “reducing off provide routes for Ukrainian troops in Bakhmut.”

A treasure of salt and plaster

The ‘reward of salt’ that provides Soledar its identify could have been his curse. The environment of the city are house to “intensive reserves of very pure salt which have been exploited on an industrial scale since 1881”, in response to the European Route of Industrial Heritage. Artemsil, the most important salt producer in Europe, operates within the space, though its manufacturing has been halted for the reason that begin of the conflict.

Knauf Gips Dombás, a subsidiary of a German gypsum producer Knauf, additionally operates within the metropolis.

tunnels and safety

After greater than a century of mining, the world is an immense labyrinth of tunnels created by extractive exercise. The mercenaries who’ve taken over the town declare that this underground community provides “distinctive and historic defenses.”

fee forex

The chief of the Wagners, Yevgeny Prigozhin, might be the primary involved in taking management of the salt mines, though underneath present situations, their exploitation appears unfeasible. However, Prigozhin has already used his mercenaries in Africa and Syria to make the most of entry to sources, together with diamonds and oil.