Ukrainian soldiers surrounded in Soledar have either surrendered or been killed, Wagner Group founder Yevgeny Prigozhin said on Wednesday. Fighters with the private military company completely surrounded the Donbass town the day before and are now clearing the extensive tunnel network in the town's salt mines.

“I want to repeat that Soledar has been fully liberated and cleared of Ukrainian army units,” Prigozhin said in a statement on Wednesday evening. “The Ukrainian troops that refused to surrender have been destroyed.”

“The entire town is littered with the bodies of Ukrainian servicemen,” he said.

circulated a video taken in downtown Soledar on Tuesday, as proof the town administration was under their control. Later in the day, Prigozhin was filmed touring the salt mine tunnels, which he said Wagner was starting to clear. The tunnel network is approximately 300 kilometers (186 miles) long and reaches hundreds of meters below the ground level. 

meeting of Russian and Ukrainian officials in Türkiye on Wednesday, that some kind of evacuation was being arranged.

“There can be no word of any humanitarian corridor,” he said, noting that all civilians have already been evacuated from the town.

“very difficult” but vowed that Ukrainian troops would continue to hold “no matter what.”

“create powerful armed forces.”