AFU General Staff shares whether Ukrainian troops will withdraw from Bakhmut following Soledar

Andriy Kovaliov, spokesman for the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, shared the information on the United News national telethon on January 25.

"It would be strange to leave Bakhmut now, when the situation is under control. We manage to repel the occupying Russian army," he said.

The General Staff spokesperson added that as long as the city "has basements, the Ukrainian military can defend and hold the territory, they will stay there."

Kovaliov noted that Russian forces are now directing all their efforts to reach the administrative boundaries of the Donetsk region.

"And this is probably the purpose of the so-called special military operation that the invading Russian military is talking about, so that Putin can show at least something to his electorate," he said.

• On the afternoon of January 25, the spokesman for the Eastern Grouping of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, Serhiy Cherevaty, announced the withdrawal of Ukrainian troops from Soledar, Donetsk region.