The founder of Russia's Wagner Group Yevgeny Prigozhin, on Sunday, said that Wagner fighters have taken over the Krasna Hora settlement north of Bakhmut, a strategic city at the epicentre of the fighting in recent months.
Russian forces over the weekend continued to shell Ukrainian cities amid a grinding push to seize more land in the east of the country, with Ukrainian officials saying that Moscow is having trouble launching its much-anticipated large-scale offensive there.
One person was killed and one more was wounded on Sunday morning by the shelling of Nikopol, a city in the southeastern Dnipropetrovsk region, Gov. Serhii Lysak reported.
Russia's private mercenary group— the Wagner Group, has been, for six months trying to capture Ukraine's eastern city. The town isn't as strategically important, but, has gained great symbolic significance because of the long duration of the fighting.
The group has managed to cut off several roads that are vital for the supply of Ukrainian troops, Euronews reported. Kyiv's top military commander, Valeriy Zaluzhnyi, said on Saturday that Ukraine continues to hold Bakhmut, trying to "stabilise" the frontline around it, Reuters reported.
"Today the settlement of Krasna Hora was taken by the assault troops of the Wagner private military company,” said Prigozhin in an audio message via Telegram. The Wagner group has for months spearheaded the assault on Bakhmut and has been making small and steady gains.
In the meantime, there appears to be growing tensions between the Wagner group and Russia's regular forces. The Wagner group announced on January 11 that they had captured the town of Soledar. Russian defence ministry took two days to make the announcement.
--With PTI inputs
