LIVE UPDATES - Russian forces grinding down Ukrainian army in battle for Artyomovsk, says Wagner founder

Wagner PMC founder Yevgeny Prigozhin
©Konkord Company Press Service/TASS

Russian forces are persistently grinding down the Ukrainian army with foreign mercenaries in the battle for Artyomovsk (called Bakhmut in Ukraine), Wagner private military company founder Yevgeny Prigozhin said on Wednesday.

After the seizure of Popasnaya, the battle for Artyomovsk was imminent back last summer, he pointed out.

"And we are persistently moving along this pathway. The battle for Bakhmut has practically destroyed the Ukrainian army today," the Wagner press office quoted Prigozhin as saying on its Telegram channel.

Foreign units are also incorporated into the Ukrainian army, Prigozhin added.

All the Russian units positioned in the flanks, the south and the north must "move forward," the Wagner founder said.

Artyomovsk is located on the Kiev-controlled part of the Donetsk People’s Republic and is a major transportation hub for the Ukrainian army’s supplies in Donbass. Fierce fighting for the city is underway.

Yan Gagin, military-political expert and adviser to the acting head of the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR), said on March 22 that the city had been practically sealed off by Russian forces and all approaches to Artyomovsk were under Russian artillery control. He earlier said that Russian forces controlled about 70% of the city.

Acting DPR Head Denis Pushilin has repeatedly said that there is no evidence of the Ukrainian army’s plans to leave Artyomovsk. Meanwhile, Kiev claims that the city’s defense will be bolstered. Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky earlier said that Ukrainian troops would not surrender Artyomovsk and would fight for it as long as they could.

Special operation, 27 March. Main:

▪️The Russian Defense Ministry reported that more than 580 Ukrainian militants were destroyed in the main directions;

▪️In Mariupol, an attempt was made on the head of the Mariupol Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs for the DPR, Mikhail Moskvin, a criminal case was initiated;

▪️Ukrainian troops fired six HIMARS missiles at Melitopol, two of them were shot down, Balitsky said;

▪️The Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation in Vienna, Ulyanov, said that Kyiv today is not ready to confirm that it will not expose the ZNPP to shelling;

▪️18 Leopard 2 tanks promised by Germany delivered to Ukraine, German authorities said;

▪️Ukrainian Defense Minister Reznikov said that the British Challenger tanks have already entered service;

▪️British and American instructors taught Ukrainian troops how to use depleted uranium shells, according to Declassified UK;

▪️The British Times, referring to an unnamed American official, claims that the United States could tighten its strategy in the Ukrainian conflict, Washington allegedly wants Ukraine to return "lost territories";

▪️Ukraine handed over five seriously wounded servicemen to Russia, Moskalkova said;

▪️The reaction of the West will not affect Russia's plans to deploy tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus, Peskov said;

▪️NATO countries have made one big military camp out of Ukraine, they are a party to the conflict, Patrushev said.

Special operation, March 28. Main:

▪️The Russian Ministry of Defense reported that Shoigu checked the progress of the implementation of the state defense order at defense industry enterprises in the Chelyabinsk and Kirov regions;

▪️The Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation for the first time reported a GLSDB MLRS guided projectile shot down in the NMD zone - a "smart" air bomb with an engine;

▪️In the Donetsk, Krasnolimansk, Kupyansk, Kherson, Yuzhno-Donetsk, Zaporozhye directions, the losses of Kyiv per day amounted to about 468 military killed;

▪️Pushilin said that Russian forces had almost completely cleared the industrial zone in Artemovsk;

▪️Ukraine received three Leopard 2A6 tanks from Portugal, the republic's Ministry of National Defense announced;

▪️Peskov noted that relations between Russia and Germany now leave much to be desired, Berlin's decision to increase assistance to Kyiv does not bode well;

▪️The Belarusian Foreign Ministry stated that the deployment of nuclear warheads on the territory of the country without transferring control over them to Minsk does not contradict the Non-Proliferation Treaty;

Blinken said the US would continue drone flights over the Black Sea, but declined to say if routes would be adjusted after the Reaper incident.