Yevgeny Prigozhin, leader of the Wagner group, which accounts for about one fourth of the Russian forces in Ukraine, again wrote on Telegram that he had "liberated" Soledar. "Once again, I want to confirm the complete liberation and cleansing of the territory of Soledar from the units of the Ukrainian army," the oligarch claimed. According to him, all civilians were removed from the city and 500 Ukrainian soldiers who refused to surrender were killed.

The Kremlin continues the reshuffle of the commanders who lead the aggression in Ukraine. The post was taken over by Gen. Valery Gerasimov, who is the Chief of Staff of the Russian Army. He replaced gen. Sergei Surovikin, who commanded for 3 months, during which he managed to withdraw the Russian aggressors from Kherson, but did not achieve the breakthrough expected by the Kremlin on the front at Bakhmut and Soledar.