In Ukraine, Russia is on the cusp of scoring its first battlefield win in months by using infantry as cannon fodder for the taking of the salt mining town of Soledar. It's a key stepping stone to Bakhmut, which then leads to the big rail and road hubs that link the Donbas to the rest of the country. Putin's Wagner mercenaries seemed to jump the gun when they started claiming on Tuesday that they alone had taken Soledar. That was then denied by the Kremlin before the Russian military repeated the claim this Friday.