Ukrainian troops are fiercely resisting Russia’s attempt to seize the small town of Bakhmut and are throwing significant additional reserves into the bloody battle, Yevgeny Prigozhin, the leader of Wagner’s Russian mercenaries, said on Wednesday, Reuters reported.

Prigozhin’s fighters have been at the forefront of the assault in eastern Ukraine for months, and Moscow sees Bakhmut, which it calls by its Soviet name Artemivsk, as a useful “stepping stone” to capture major cities such as Kramatorsk and Slovyansk.

In recent days, Ukrainian commanders have warned that the situation on the ground is becoming much more difficult as Russia steps up its efforts to encircle Bakhmut with the aim of recapturing its first major objective in more than six months after some of the bloodiest fighting of the war.

“The Ukrainian army is transferring additional reserves to Artemivsk and is trying with all its might to hold the city,” Prigozhin said in a short audio message broadcast by his press service.

“Tens of thousands of soldiers of the Ukrainian army are fiercely resisting. The hostilities are becoming bloodier every day,” he added.

Thousands of residents remained in the destroyed city from a pre-war population of about 70,000.

What Ukrainians say about Bakhmut

Russian forces involved more experienced fighters of the private military company “Wagner” in the assault on Bakhmut, a representative of the Ukrainian military told CNN.

“It is characteristic that the enemy attacked the most prepared units of the “Wagner” PMC,” Serhiy Cherevaty, the spokesman of the Eastern Group of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, said on Wednesday.

“These units are headed by soldiers who have combat experience in Syria, Libya and other conflict zones,” he added.

According to him, Russian forces are suffering huge losses and are jeopardizing their ability to conduct combat operations outside Bakhmut.

“We are causing huge losses [inamicului nostru]. And with this heroic battle, the defenders of the Bakhmut Front exhaust the enemy, weaken him, and prepare a bridgehead for the reserves, which will later come and throw the enemy out of our territory,” Cherevaty said.

“I calmed down the enemy a little”

A soldier of the 93rd Ukrainian Brigade said that his country’s forces were still in positions in the city of Bakhmut and had no plans to retreat.

“We will survive in Bakhmut. No one is going to leave yet,” the soldier said in a video released by the Ukrainian military on Wednesday. “We are resisting. Bakhmut is Ukraine,” he added.

The military also noted that the situation in Bakhmut is somewhat calmer than in previous days.

“I calmed down the enemy a bit. The situation is a little calmer, but there are still skirmishes on the outskirts of the city. There are separate explosions, projectiles are flying,” he added.