Russian mercenary chief says Ukraine’s Bakhmut is practically surrounded

Yevgeny Prigozhin, founder of Russia’s Wagner mercenary force, said in a video published on Friday that the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut was “practically surrounded” by his forces and that Kyiv’s forces had only one road left out.
Prigozhin’s men have spearheaded the assault in eastern Ukraine for months with Moscow regarding Bakhmut, which it calls by its Soviet-era name of Artyomovsk, as a useful stepping stone to seize bigger cities like Kramatorsk and Sloviansk.
Prigozhin called on Ukrainian President Volodymr Zelenskiy to withdraw his forces from the small city.
Prigozhin said his forces were increasingly fighting against old men and children rather than the professional Ukrainian army.