MOSCOW

Russia on Friday claimed Ukrainian troops were surrounded in the frontline city of Bakhmut.

Fighters of the Wagner private military company took control of the last road used for supplies of the Ukrainian army, cutting possibilities for further deliveries, Yan Gagin, a representative of Russia-installed authorities in Donetsk, told reporters.

Ukraine did not immediately respond to the claims.

Russian forces have been trying for months to capture Bakhmut, a transport and logistics hub in Ukraine’s Donetsk region, which is part of the largely Russian-speaking industrialized Donbas region.

Yevgeny Prigozhin, the head of Wagner, claimed in late March that the battle for the city “almost destroyed the Ukrainian army” and also “battered” his group.