LUGANSK, January 9. /TASS/. Ukraine may withdraw its troops from the city Artyomovsk, which is known as Bakhmut in Ukraine, in a couple of weeks, Vladimir Novikov, codenamed Aalabay and commander of the Troy Russian volunteer special forces unit, said on Monday.

"If the Wagner private military company keeps its current pace of the offensive in the next couple of weeks, the Ukrainian command will have to look at withdrawing troops from Artyomovsk to avoid its entrapment and, consequently, total destruction," he wrote on his Telegram channel.

As Russia’s forces are moving in the Donetsk direction, "slowly but surely, the contours and lines of division of the Ukrainian army’s Soledar-Bakhmut group are taking shape," he noted. "The [Ukrainian army’s] 17th tank brigade, which was deployed a couple of weeks ago, has failed to close the hole between Soledar and Artyomovsk. Concurrently, the Ukrainian army command withdrew the 128th mountain assault brigade from this direction to prevent the final loss of efficiency of this unit, which is regarded as an elite infantry force."

Apty Alaudinov, commander of the Akhmat special force and deputy commander of the 2nd army corps of the People’s Militia of the Lugansk People’s Republic (LPR), said earlier that Soledar and Artyomovsk could be liberated in the coming days as Wagner soldiers had made progress in those parts of the front, "which are essential for the logistics of Ukrainian troops."

The Troy volunteer special force unit is a unit of Russian volunteers who are taking part in the special military operation in Donbass.