The Russian army is withdrawing in several areas in the south and east of Ukraine, Yevgeny Prigozhin, head of Wagner’s mercenary group, said on Friday, contradicting the Kremlin’s claims that the Ukrainian counteroffensive had failed, AFP reports.

“The (Russian) army is retreating to the Zaporozhye and Kherson (southern) directions, and the Armed Forces of Ukraine are advancing,” Prigozhin said in a video interview published by his press service on the Telegram channel.

“The same thing is happening in Bakhmut. The enemy will penetrate deeper and deeper into our defenses,” the businessman says, referring to a small town in eastern Ukraine, which the Russians say they have captured, but where, according to the Ukrainians, they have been advancing on the flanks in recent weeks.

“There is no control. There is no military success,” condemns Yevgeny Prohozhyn.

Russian soldiers are “bathing in their own blood,” says Prigozhin, suggesting that they are suffering heavy casualties.

Chief Wagner’s statements, which cannot be independently verified, contradict statements by Russian President Vladimir Putin and Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, according to which the Russian military “rejects” all Ukrainian attacks.

On the other hand, Ukraine also announced on Friday some progress in the south, where troops recorded “partial success”, according to military spokesman Andrii Kovalev.

In the east, the Ukrainian army “continues to stop the offensive of Russian troops,” and “especially complex armed clashes continue,” he said.

“Our defense forces have stopped the enemy’s offensive in the area of ​​Kupyansk and Lyman,” Deputy Minister of Defense of Ukraine Hanna Malyar reported on Telegram. (news.ro)

Follow the latest events of the 485th day of the war in Ukraine LIVETEXT on HOTNEWS.RO.