Soledar

The fate of a devastated salt-mining town in eastern Ukraine hung in the balance Wednesday in one of the bloodiest battles of Russia's invasion, while Ukraine's unflagging resistance and other challenges prompted Moscow to shake up its military leadership again.

Russian forces used jets, mortars and rockets to bombard Soledar in an unrelenting assault.

Here are the highlights of events related to the war in Ukraine over the past 24 hours:

Soledar in eastern Ukraine is now under Russian control

The head of Russia's mercenary group Wagner, Yevgeny Prigozhin, said early Wednesday his fighters had taken control of Ukraine's city of Soledar after intense fighting this week, but said some "urban battles" continued.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Monday his troops were withstanding "new and even tougher assaults" on Soledar, near the eastern city of Bakhmut that Moscow has been trying to capture for months.

The private military company "Wagner" alone attacked the Ukrainian city of Soledar and is "close" to capturing it. These words of the head of "Wagner" Yevgeny Prigozhin were distributed by his company "Concord" in response to a question to him from Russian media.

Ukraine's Southern Operations Command said Ukrainian forces destroyed three Russian ammunition depots in the south of the country on October 24, killing 40 Russian soldiers and destroying three tanks, an Osa anti-aircraft missile system and six armored vehicles.

"Our fighters, together with allied forces, continue the offensive along the line of Soledar, Yakovlevka and Seversk. A large number of enemy personnel and equipment have been neutralized," he wrote on Telegram, TASS reported.

Here are the highlights of events related to the war in Ukraine over the past 24 hours:

The Ukrainian army has damaged one of the bridges over the Dnieper river

Active fighting is taking place in the southern parts of the country. Ukrainian forces report that they have damaged one of two bridges over the Dnieper River.