JAKARTA - The head of Russia's Wagner mercenary group said Tuesday his troops control more than 80 percent of the destroyed eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut, after some of the heaviest and bloodiest fighting.
Wagner's troops are known to have led efforts to occupy Bakhmut City for months. The grinding trench warfare and the constant artillery barrage, have drawn comparisons to the First World War because of the heavy casualties inflicted on both sides.
Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin said his troops, which had played a major role in the Russian advance in the east, were advancing by encircling Bakhmut.
"In Bakhmut, most of it, more than 80 percent is now under our control, including the entire administrative center, factories, warehouses, city administration," he said in a video uploaded by a Russian military blogger.
Meanwhile, the head of the Russian-placed Donetsk region, Denis Pushilin, one of four declared annexations by Moscow last September, said Russian troops had cornered Ukrainian fighters.
"In the western region where their units were dug out, they had no choice but to go forward and surrender," Russian news agencies quoted Denis Pushilin as telling state television.
Meanwhile, senior Ukrainian military officials did not address the claims directly, but said their troops were holding out against the fierce onslaught, ensuring Russian forces remained "in control".
Serhiy Cherevatyi, spokesman for Ukraine's Eastern Military Command, said the situation in Bakhmut was under control, adding Kyiv would not allow its troops to be surrounded.
Meanwhile, Ukraine's Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Malyar acknowledged Bakhmut "took the main blow" in the battle. But the Russian troops, he said, "generally lose to us in street fighting so they destroy all buildings and structures".
Furthermore, Kyiv said it would need more and better Western weapons to defeat Russia, while senior Ukrainian officials pressed ahead with their efforts to persuade allies to open up supplies.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba on Tuesday wrote on Twitter that he had received "strong" assurances of US support from Foreign Minister Antony Blinken.
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In addition, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau promised new supplies of assault rifles, machine guns, and ammunition.
Prigozhin had earlier made claims about Russian control of the mining town that turned out to be premature, but Ukraine acknowledged the situation in what he called the "Bakhmut bastion" was now very difficult.
Russia said capturing Bakhmut would open up the possibility of future attacks across Ukraine, while Kyiv and the West said the now-destroyed city was of only symbolic importance.
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