Moscow (AFP) - The fight for Bakhmut, a city in eastern Ukraine and scene of the longest-running battle since Moscow's offensive, is far from over, the head of Russia's Wagner mercenary group said Tuesday.
Bakhmut has been at the centre of months of heavy fighting in Russia's nearly year-long offensive in Ukraine, with both sides suffering heavy losses.
Observers of the conflict have downplayed Bakhmut's strategic importance, but the city has turned into a key political and symbolic prize.
It is located in the industrial Donetsk region that Moscow seeks to control completely.
"Bakhmut will not be taken tomorrow, because there is heavy resistance and grinding, the meat grinder is working," Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin said as quoted by his press service.
"We will not be celebrating in the near future," he added.
He said that Ukraine is "becoming more active, pulling up more and more new reserves".
"Every day, between 300 and 500 new fighters approach Bakhmut from all directions," he said, adding that "artillery fire intensifies with every day".
Kyiv on Monday conceded a "difficult" situation north of Bakhmut in the village of Paraskoviivka, saying it was "under intense shelling and assaults".
The same day Russia's defence ministry said its forces had captured Krasna Gora, a village near Paraskoviivka.
According to Prigozhin, "heavy fighting" is ongoing in the north.
Restricted access to Bakhmut
The Kremlin-appointed leader of the Donetsk region, Denis Pushilin, said Tuesday there were no signs that Ukraine will cede the city, which President Volodymyr Zelensky has described as a "fortress".
"We fully understand that there is currently no prospect of the enemy abandoning their positions without a fight," Pushilin said as quoted by Russian news agencies.
Last week Pushilin said that Russian forces had cut three out of four Ukrainian supply routes to Bakhmut.
The city, which had a population of around 70,000 before the offensive, has been largely destroyed in the more than six months of fighting for its control.
"Around 5,000 residents" remain in Bakhmut, Ukrainian military spokesman Sergiy Cherevaty said Tuesday on national television.
Several Ukrainian officials have said that access for civilians had been restricted, including members of humanitarian organisations and journalists.
Only "those who really need" to enter Bakhmut are allowed in, Cherevaty said.
"We are now taking additional steps to evacuate everyone who remains" in Bakhmut, Donetsk region governor Pavlo Kyrylenko said on Ukrainian TV.
According to him, "the entire front line is under constant shelling, both the front line and towns in the rear".
He added that the situation is "difficult but under control".
