The leader of the Russian paramilitary group Wagner said on Sunday that his troops had taken the Ukrainian town of Krasna Hora, a few kilometers north of Bakhmout, a key city that Moscow has been seeking to conquer for several months.
“Today, Wagner’s assault units seized the town of Krasna Hora,” Yevgeny Prigozhin was quoted as saying by his press service.
AFP could not verify these statements from independent sources. For more than six months, the Wagner group and the Russian army have been trying to capture Bakhmout, in eastern Ukraine, a city of little strategic importance but which has gained great symbolic importance due to the duration of the fighting.
“They will take Bakhmout”
Russian forces have been trying in recent weeks to encircle Bakhmout and have managed to cut several roads into the city vital to the supply of Ukrainian troops.
The Wagner Group announced on January 11 that it had taken Soledar, a larger town not far from Krasna Hora. But the Russian Defense Ministry had taken two days to announce the conquest of Soledar, revealing dissensions between Wagner and the Russian regular army.
“After the capture of Soledar, there was an uproar that others (soldiers), besides Wagner’s fighters, were in Soledar. Obviously, the guys were not happy,” Yevgeny Prigozhin commented on Sunday. “In a radius of 50 kilometers or so, there are only Wagner fighters and they will take Bakhmout,” he said.
Source: BFM TV
