Over 30,000 people – the loss of a Russian mercenary company Wagner V Ukraineaccording to the White House.

The United States estimates that 90 percent of Wagner soldiers killed in Ukraine since December have been ex-prisoners, National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said.

Prigozhin: Our fighters captured the entire village of Paraskovitka

A few hours ago, the head of the Russian mercenary group Wagner said his forces had captured the Ukrainian village of Paraskovitka, which borders the city of Bakhmut in the north, the site of the longest battle in the Donbass in a year.

“Despite the artillery blockade, despite heavy losses and bloody battles, our soldiers captured the entire village of Paraskovitka,” Yevgeny Prigozhin said, according to his press service.

The AFP agency was unable to independently verify Prigozhin’s statement.

For more than six months, Wagner and the Russian military have been trying to capture Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine, a city of limited strategic but great symbolic importance due to the length and intensity of the ongoing fighting.

Russian forces have been trying to surround Bakhmut in recent weeks and have managed to block several roads leading to the city vital to resupplying Ukrainian troops.

Paraskovitka is located at the northern entrance to the city of Bakhmut, on the main road connecting the bombed-out city with Siversk.

Prigozhin’s today’s reference to the “ammunition blockade” looks like a public criticism of the Russian Defense Ministry, which he accuses of the ineffectiveness of logistic support against the backdrop of disagreements between the head of Wagner and the military command.

On Monday, the Wagner group announced that they had captured Krasnaya Gora, a small town near Paraskovitka.

^{Source: RES-IPE}