Yevgeny Prigozhin, head of the private military company Wagner, says Russian forces "fled" to Bakhmut. Moscow Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said Russian units had "regrouped" to take a more advantageous line.

Kiev army, 'Russian troops exhausted in BakhMut' 'Bakhmut is resisting and our defenders are destroying the enemy and chasing him in places,' says spokesman for Eastern Group of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Serhiy Cherevaty.