Moscow, Feb. 12, (dpa/GNA) - The head of the Russian mercenary group Wagner claims his private army has captured a suburb of the embattled eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut amid bloody fighting.
Yevgeny Prigozhin claimed on Sunday that Wagner fighters had stormed the settlement of Krasna Hora outside Bakhmut in the Donetsk region. Ukrainian officials have not confirmed this.
Prigozhin went on to proclaim that his mercenary units would go on to take Bakhmut itself, about seven kilometres away. The months-long battle over Bakhmut has been particularly bloody and costly for both Russian forces and Ukrainian defenders.
Ukrainian commander-in-chief Valerii Zaluzhnyi had previously said that the city remained under Ukrainian control in the face of continuous Russian assaults.
“Despite constant pressure from the enemy, we continue to keep Bakhmut under control and are taking measures to stabilize the front line around this city,” Zaluzhnyi said after a phone call with top US General Mark Milley.
The Russian Defence Ministry asserted that Russian troops have recently made progress in the region.
Control of Bakhmut is considered strategically important and its capture would move Russian forces closer to occupying all of the Donetsk region, an explicit war aim of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has stressed that his country will do everything possible to repel the Russian invaders.
GNA