MOSCOW 

Head of the Wagner paramilitary group claimed on Thursday that Ukraine has already launched its widely expected counteroffensive, and his forces were under pressure in Bakhmut.

In a statement on Telegram, Evgeny Prigozhin said Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was being deceptive by saying that Kyiv needed more time to prepare for major fighting.

"Zelenskyy is paltering, the counteroffensive is in full swing, in the Artyomovsk (Russian for Bakhmut) direction, the AFU (armed forces of Ukraine) units press our flanks," he said.

The Wagner head claimed that his group continues to suffer from ammunition shortages, accusing the Russian Defense Ministry of not fulfilling its promises on supplies.

Prigozhin has been accusing Russian defense chiefs of failing to give him sufficient support and ammunition, and had threatened to pull his men out of Bakhmut, ​​the Ukrainian city at the center of the months-long battle of the war that broke out last year.