On Tuesday, Russia’s Wagner Private Military Company (PMC) founder Yevgueni Prigozhin informed that his forces currently control over 80 percent of the Artiomovsk city, whose name in Ukrainian is Bakhmut, in the Donetsk region.
RELATED:
"The largest part of Bakhmut, including all administrative centers, factories, and power plants, is under our control," Prigozhin said, thanking the Russian Airborne Forces for assuming the protection of the right and left flanks of the area.
Lieutenant-general Igor Konashenkov, a spokesperson for the Russian Defense Ministry, informed that the Wagner group continues advancing through Artiomovsk city, where it gained control of three blocks in the last 24 hours.
"These advances help to control the attacks of the enemy army, which tried to enter Artiomovsk city from the Chasiv Yar and Bogdanivka towns," he said, stressing that Russian forces currently focus their efforts on Artyomovsk city.
“The Wagner group's assault teams continue fighting for residential areas in downtown Artyomovsk. This tactic edge out enemy forces to the western outskirts,” Konashenkov added.
Some Bakhmut residential neighborhoods remain under the control of Ukrainian forces, which have converted most of the private dwellings into fortified areas with undergrown tunnels.
Recently, Russian forces also attacked units of the 28th Motorized Brigade of the Ukrainian Army near Konstantinovka town in the Donetsk region.