GROZNY, December 23. /TASS/. The Kiev regime is getting ready to surrender Artyomovsk (called Bakhmut in Ukraine), the hottest spot on the entire frontline, commander of the Akhmat commando unit and Deputy Commander of the 2nd Army Corps of LPR People’s Militia Apty Alaudinov said on Friday.

"Right now, the hottest spot on our front is Bakhmut where our units are doing very well <...>. [The Kiev regime] perfectly understands that [its troops] are being pushed out of there and will be definitely thrown out and, naturally, they are getting ready and preparing residents that they will lose this city," he told the Rossiya-1 TV channel.

According to him, the hopeless situation of the Ukrainian units is confirmed by the Kiev regime's rhetoric that Artyomovsk is "meaningless to them." They used the same approach when they surrendered Severodonetsk, Lisichansk, Rubezhnoye and other cities, Alaudinov pointed out.

Earlier, the DPR and LPR repeatedly reported that the Ukrainian army was redeploying supplementary forces to the Artyomovsk front with Ukrainian troops suffering substantial losses there.