JAKARTA - The head of Russia's paid army group Wagner said on Monday its troops were starting to get the ammunition needed to push forward and seize the long-torn city of Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine.
"Today, the groups advanced a maximum of 130 meters (400 feet)... Heavy fighting is ongoing, but the groups are moving forward," Yevgeny Prigozhin said in an audio message posted on social media.
"According to preliminary data, we started receiving ammunition. We haven't seen it in practice."
Prigozhin further explained that Ukrainian troops were confined to an area of 2.36 square km (0.9 square miles) in the city.
Bakhmut himself is known to have been under Russian attacks for more than nine months, with the Wagner Group's army spearheading repeated attempts to advance to the city that was once inhabited by 70,000 people.
However, Ukrainian commanders have vowed to keep the city even though Russia tried to seize it on time to commemorate Victory Day which marked the defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II on Tuesday.
It is known that Prigozhin last week threatened to withdraw his troops unless they received the ammunition they needed, because he considered his troops would lose without the ammunition needed. However, he then withdrew the threat.
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