Wagner Chief: Key Donbass City Surrounded

By Staff, Agencies

The Russian “Wagner Private Military Company’s leader Yevgeniy Prigozhin announced on Friday that his group has de-facto completely surrounded the key city of Artyomovsk, referred to as Bakhmut in Ukraine.

In a video apparently shot on the outskirts of the city, the Wagner chief personally addressed Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky, telling him that the Donbass city has been encircled and that there is now only one road left out of the city.

“The pincers are closing shut,” announced Prigozhin.

He further added that previously the Wagner group had been fighting a professional Ukrainian army, but is now instead coming across more and more old men and children. “They are fighting, but life under Bakhmut is short. A day or two,” Prigozhin said.

The Wagner chief urged the Ukrainian president to allow them to leave the city as the camera pans to what appear to be captured Ukrainian soldiers.

The city of Artyomovsk, which has seen some of the heaviest fighting amid Russia’s ongoing military campaign, is part of a 70km Ukrainian defense line created since Kiev initiated the fighting in Donbass in 2014.

In a months-long campaign, Russian forces, primarily Wagner members, have systematically captured settlements around the city and have been surrounding Artyomovsk from the north, south, and east.