Wagner boss says Ukraine retakes settlement near Bakhmut

Leader of the Wagner Group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, says Ukrainian forces have retaken part of the settlement of Berkhivka, north of Bakhmut.

Leader of the Wagner Group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, says Ukrainian forces have retaken part of the settlement of Berkhivka, north of Bakhmut.

“Now part of the settlement of Berkhivka has already been lost; the troops are quietly running away. Disgrace!” Prigozhin said in an audio message published by his press service.

He urged Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu and the chief of the general staff, Valery Gerasimov, to come to the front to rally the troops.

“Come on, you can do it!” he said. “And if you can’t, you’ll die heroes.”

Prigozhin’s private army captured Bakhmut last month after the longest battle of the war and handed its positions there to regular Russian troops.

Earlier in the day, the commander of Ukraine’s ground forces, Oleksandr Syrskyi, said Ukrainian troops continued “moving forward” near Bakhmut.