The Head of Russia’s Wagner mercenary group has vowed to transfer control of the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut to the Russian army.
Wagner founder Yevgeny Prigozhin claimed to have captured Bakhmut Saturday, but Kyiv said it still controls parts of the city.
Ukraine said its troops are still advancing on the outskirts of Bakhmut.
Prigozhin said his troops will start handing over the city to the Russian army on Thursday.
“Wagner will leave Artemovsk from 25 May to 1 June,” Mr Prigozhin said in an audio recording on Telegram.
Bakhmut was previously known as Artemovsk, in honour of a Soviet revolutionary, before Ukraine renamed it.
He said that Wagner had set up “defence lines” on the west of the city ahead of the transfer.
But Ukraine’s Deputy Defence Minister, Hanna Maliar, reiterated that its forces still have a small foothold inside the city and are advancing on the outskirts, adding that the “intensity” of their movement had reduced.
She later wrote in a post on Telegram that Ukrainian troops still controlled “certain private facilities and the private sector in the ‘Litak’ area” of the city.
BBC
Follow The Eagle Online Channel on WhatsApp
