DONETSK, January 13. /TASS/. The DRR acting head’s adviser, Igor Kimakovsky, has said that his previous statement about the encirclement of the city of Artyomovsk (Ukrainian name Bakhmut) by the Russian forces was premature.

"What I said about the blockade of Artyomovsk was premature. Our guys from the Wagner PMC are moving in this direction towards victory," Kimakovsky wrote on his Telegram channel on Friday.

On Thursday evening, Kimakovsky said that the allied forces had sealed off the city.

Fierce hostilities are in progress near Artyomovsk. Earlier, the acting head of the DPR, Denis Pushilin, said that Russian forces were systematically cutting the supply lines of the Ukrainian group in the area, using a pincer movement. Once this city is under control, he said, it will be possible to proceed with liberating the northern part of the republic. The DPR and LPR have repeatedly said the reinforcements the Ukrainian command was deploying near Artyomovsk were sustaining heavy losses.