MOSCOW, May 11. /TASS/. The Ukrainian forces now have no plans for leaving Artyomovsk (the Ukrainian name Bakhmut), the secretary of the National Security and Defense Council, Alexey Danilov, said this on the TSN TV channel on Thursday.

"We are not going to surrender Bakhmut and we will hold it as long as the military deems necessary for the tactical and strategic reasons of our country’s military and military-political leadership," he said.

Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said on Wednesday that Russian assault squads continued their offensive on the northwestern and western outskirts of the city. On May 7, Yevgeny Prigozhin, the founder of the private military company PMC Wagner, said that about 95% of Artyomovsk was under the control of Russian forces.