The commander of the Russian Wagner Group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, announced on Friday that the city of Bakhmut, where the battles are currently concentrated in eastern Ukraine, has become “practically besieged” by his forces.
“Wagner’s units have practically surrounded Bakhmut, and there is only one way out,” Prigozhin said in a video posted by his media office on the Telegram application.
Wagner amidst Bakhmut
Russian news and reports have confirmed that the fighters of the “Wagner” group have been in the center of Bakhmut for days.
The local leader in Donetsk, Igor Kimakovsky, indicated that the Russian forces control all the roads leading to the city, adding that the forward factions of the Wagner Group are already fighting in the center of Artyomovsk, according to statements he made to the Russian agency, “Sputnik”.
“The city is suffering heavy losses,” Kimakowski said.
Bakhmut, in the part controlled by Ukrainian forces, is located north of the large city of Gorlovka, and is an important transportation hub for supplying Ukrainian forces in Donbass.
Bakhmut under siege
The political and military leadership in Ukraine has acknowledged during the past few days the difficult situation in Bakhmut, while local leaders in Donetsk said that the city is under a fire siege.
And the latest confessions about the difficult situation in Bakhmut were issued by the commander of the Ukrainian ground forces, who said that the situation in the city is “very tense”, and “Wagner” forces are trying to tighten the cordon around the city.
For his part, the pro-Moscow local commander in Donetsk, Denis Pushilin, said in a statement to the Russian Channel One, that the Russian forces are applying a fire siege to almost all entrances to Bakhmut.
“Practically, almost all roads are in the crosshairs,” said Pushilin, who holds the position of president of the so-called Donetsk People’s Republic, according to RIA Novosti.
Zelensky fears
As for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, he confirmed on Tuesday evening that “battles continue to rage” in the vicinity of Bakhmut, a city in the east of the country that Russian forces have been trying to seize for months.
And he said Zelensky In his daily evening video message, “The greatest difficulties are, as before, in V Bakhmut. Russia Not counting her men at all, she sends them to attack our positions non-stop. The battles never cease to rage.”
The Ukrainian ground forces had announced the dispatch of additional reinforcements in Bakhmut, in the region Donetsk To repel the attempts of the Russian forces to control the city.
