The leader and founder of the paramilitary group Wagner Group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, an ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, said on Friday (3) that his forces were finishing encircling the city of Bakhmut and asked Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to order the withdrawal of troops from Kiev.
The city, located in eastern Ukraine’s Donetsk oblast, is the main battlefront in the war today and its control has been disputed by Kiev and Moscow forces since late last year.
“Wagner’s units have practically surrounded Bakhmut, there’s only one road left [de acesso]”, said Prigozhin, in a video published on Telegram.
“They [soldados ucranianos] are struggling, but their life expectancy [se permanecerem] in Bakhmut is very low – one or two days. Give them a chance to leave town. The city is indeed surrounded,” said the leader and financier of the Wagner Group, addressing Zelensky.
Ukraine’s Center for Strategic Communication refuted the information released by Prigozhin, calling it a “disinformation campaign” to “spread panic and provoke Ukraine’s top military and political leadership”.
According to Kiev, only about 4,500 civilians remain in Bakhmut, which had a pre-war population of around 70,000.
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