Marr: Russia has turned Soledar into the Ypres or Stalingrad of the 21st century - what does peace look like to them?
12 January 2023, 18:12
Andrew Marr: Soledar is beginning to look like the Ypres or the Stalingrad of the 2020s
Andrew Marr asks what peace looks like for Russia as it continues to try and pursue a rare win in its failed invasion of Ukraine.
Moscow's forces are desperately throwing troops at Soledar, a salt mining town in the east of the country which could enable them to take the nearby town of Bakhmut.
Two British aid workers have gone missing there with the Wagner Group claiming it found one of their bodies on Wednesday - a claim that has yet to be verified.
Russia appears desperate to take both and has spent weeks expending men and munitions in its characteristically bloody way of war.
Speaking at the top of Thursday's Tonight with Andrew Marr, LBC's host said: "At Westminster, we talk all the time about battles and struggles for the future; and really, none of us know anything about fighting – not compared to those fighting right now for the gift of salt.
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"Gift of salt, Soledar in Ukrainian, is the little Cossack town, reduced to brick dust and matchwood and surrounded by a liquid mass of corpses where, right now, the Russians and Ukrainians are fighting one of the most desperate battles in modern history.
"Under it lies 125 miles of huge echoing caverns and tunnels, the remnants of a vast salt mine; some of them so big, they've accommodated football matches and symphony orchestras but also useful, of course, for hiding men and weapons at war.
"Soledar may be small but it's beginning to look like the Ypres or the Stalingrad of the 2020s. Not far from there, two British aid workers are missing, feared. Now this might seem weird or outlandish - but one day, one day this war will end and Russia and Britain, with the rest of the West will be sitting down together again.
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"I've talked to Ukrainian voices a lot and it is crystal clear how they think the conflict ends with the withdrawal all of Russia from all of the occupied territory including Crimea.
"But from the Russian point of view, what would peace look like? How could it end?"
