Wagner boss claims Russian troops ‘fleeing’ near Ukraine’s Bakhmut

The head of Russia's private Wagner mercenary group Yevgeny Prigozhin on Friday said Moscow's conventional army was fleeing its positions near the eastern Ukraine hotspot town of Bakhmut.

"The units of the defence ministry simply went fleeing from the flanks" of Bakhmut, Prigozhin said, adding that "the flanks are failing, the front is collapsing" in that area.

He also accused Moscow’s military leadership of downplaying the situation around the embattled Ukrainian town.

“Attempts by the defense ministry in the information field to sugar coat the situation – it’s leading and will lead to a global tragedy for Russia.”

“For this reason, we must stop lying immediately,” Yevgeny Prigozhin said in a video statement released on social media. [AFP]