Yevgeny Prigozhin, the head of the Russian paramilitary group Wagner, denied on Wednesday that Russian forces had succeeded in establishing an operational ring around the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut, hours after representatives of pro-Russian forces in eastern Ukraine said otherwise.

“The operational circle is when all roads and routes of supply, evacuation and any transit routes are controlled from enemy fire. At the moment, we do not have an operative circle in Bakhmut,” Yevgeny Prigozhin wrote in his Telegram channel, EFE agency reports, citing Agerpres.

In addition, he added, such information “is not disclosed for operational reasons.” “When the city is conquered, you will undoubtedly know,” Yevgeny Prigozhin also said.

• Read also: Pro-Russian separatists claim success in the operational encirclement of the city of Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine

Earlier, the adviser to the pro-Russian leader of the Donetsk region, Denys Pushylin, stated that the city of Bakhmut “is in an operational circle, our troops are closing the circle.” He also reported that “now there are battles for control of the road between Chasov Yar (west of Bakhmut) and Artemivsk (the Russian name of the city of Bakhmut), as this is the only artery through which Ukrainian troops can supply their troops. units” located in Bakhmut.

Another military expert from the Luhansk region of neighboring Ukraine, which is largely controlled by Russia, Colonel Vitaly Kiselyov, said that Russian forces had almost surrounded the town of Bakhmut on three sides, while another colonel from the same region said that “to close the circle”, Russian troops still need to go 10 kilometers.

The fight for Bakhmut

Russian troops and Wagner’s group have been trying to capture Bakhmut since the summer, a town of about 70,000 before the Russian invasion began.

In recent weeks, the Russian army intensified its offensive to encircle this city and after bloody battles occupied the city of Soledar and nearby villages, which allows continuing the attack on Bakhmut also from the north, and not only from the east.

Taking the city of Bakhmut would open the way for Russian troops to the cities of Sloviansk and Kramatorsk – the main strongholds of the Ukrainian army in Donbas.

Ukraine claims that the Russians sent elite troops to Bakhmut

The comments by pro-Russian separatists on Wednesday came after Volodymyr Nazarenko, deputy commander of the Svoboda Battalion of the Ukrainian National Guard’s 4th Rapid Response Brigade, told CNN earlier this week that Russian airmen had been arrested. sent to Bahmut after Wagner’s mercenaries suffer heavy losses.

“Five to six months under Bakhmut was real hell. The enemy is constantly attacking. And we see more how it changes, which, by the way, greatly affects the combat capability, morale and living conditions of each soldier,” he said.

He also said he could not say for sure whether Russian forces had launched a full-scale offensive or whether their tactics had changed, but it appeared that the Wagner fighters had now been replaced by Russian airborne forces.

“We see that Wagner is almost completely destroyed. Now they have been replaced by the airborne troops, which are losing not only soldiers but also armored vehicles almost every day,” he added.

CNN could not independently confirm the casualty claims, but satellite images of an area near a village in Russia show a rapidly expanding cemetery where many of those who died fighting on the side of the Wagner Group are buried.

The advance of Russian troops in the direction of Bakhmut at the beginning of August last year was led by Wagner’s mercenaries led by Yevhen Prigozhin.

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