DONETSK, January 11. /TASS/. There are many mobilized servicemen among the Ukrainian troops captured in the fight for the city of Soledar in the Donetsk People's Republic (DPR), Yan Gagin, a military-political expert from the DPR, told TASS on Wednesday.

"There are indeed many wounded, sick and frostbitten among the Ukrainian military abandoned by [Ukrainian President Vladimir] Zelensky's regime in Soledar. For these people, surrendering is the only way to stay alive and save their remaining health. Those who have surrendered will receive medical care, food and the opportunity to contact their families. Among them are many mobilized citizens of Ukraine," Gagin said.

"The attitude towards prisoners once again shows that we are different from them (the Ukrainian side - TASS)! We do not torture and kill enemy soldiers who lay down their arms, which is intrinsic to the Ukrainian Reich. And our liberator soldiers have never done anything like that," he stressed.

On Wednesday night, Russian businessman Yevgeny Prigozhin reported that Soledar, where fighting has continued in recent days, was taken under the control of the Wagner private military company, and that a pocket had formed in the center of the city, where fighting was underway.

On Wednesday, Russian Defense Ministry Spokesman Lieutenant General Igor Konashenkov said that Russian troops had blocked Soledar from the north and south, and fighting continued in the city. Gagin told TASS that there may be as many as 500 Ukrainian servicemen remaining in the now Russian-controlled city of Soledar.