(ANSA) - ROME, FEBRUARY 14 - The head of the Russian mercenary group Wagner, Yevgeniy Prigozhin, has warned that the capture of the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut is far from imminent.
"Bakhmut will not be taken tomorrow, because there is strong resistance, the meat grinder is working," Prigozhin said in a statement distributed on a Wagner Telegram channel quoted by CNN.
"For the mincer to work properly, it is impossible to suddenly start the celebrations. There will be no celebrations soon," he added, later denying the rumors that an encirclement of the city is imminent.
Despite months of intense battles, the Wagners and Russian forces have still failed to capture Bakhmut, even as they are slowly pushing towards the encirclement of the city.
Still, Prigozhin warned that the latter is far from imminent, responding to a question about whether Wagner's forces had captured a small part of northern Bakhmut.
"I don't understand where this nonsense is coming from," he said.
“In all directions, the enemy is becoming more active, attracting more and more reserves. Every day from 300 to 500new fighters are approaching Bakhmut in all directions.
The artillery fire is intensifying day by day," he stressed. "To date, heavy fighting is going on in the north.
There are no prerequisites for encircling the enemy in the northern regions.
The attack takes place house by house, square meter by square metre.
It's not clear where all these stories about an encirclement and more come from". (ANSA).