Battle for Bakhmut coming to end, analyst says

According to Russian military analyst Vasily Dandykin, the fight for Bakhmut (the Russian name of the city is Artemovsk) is coming to an end.

"It is clear now that the Ukrainian units in Bakhmut are not doing well. They have a small bottleneck left, through which they can bring in reinforcements and ammunition into the city. They have to use dirt roads that our troops rake with fire. This bottleneck has been getting narrow and narrow every day, and this is the worst thing for the enemy," Dandykin told the Izvestia newspaper. .

The Russian forces are also advancing in residential areas, the analyst said. There is about one kilometre left for them to reach the city centre.

According to the analyst, there are from 12,000 to 20,000 Ukrainian soldiers in the city. "As we can see, they can be cut off at any moment,” he added.

Yan Gagin, adviser to acting head of the Donetsk People's Republic earlier said that the Russian military had about a half of Bakhmut under control.

According to PMC Wagner founder Prigozhin, his fighters took control of the village of Zaliznyanskoye, north-north-west of Bakhmut.

Prigozhin earlier said that the Armed Forces of Ukraine were preparing a counteroffensive in the Bakhmut region. According to him, it should pass in four stages.