This Post was originally published here: Source Link
It is a battle that has cost thousands, perhaps even tens of thousands, of lives, but Vladmir Putin’s army appears to be on the verge of its first major victory in six months with the capture of the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut.
Yevgeny Prigozhin, the brutal oligarch whose Wagner Group mercenaries have led the months-long assault on Bakhmut, claimed Friday the town was all but surrounded and said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky should order his forces to leave via the only route still open to them.
“Units of the private military company Wagner have practically surrounded Bakhmut. Only one route is left,” he said in a video filmed on a rooftop in an unknown location. “The pincers are closing.”