MOSCOW, March 1. /TASS/. Tens of thousands of Ukrainian troops are fiercely resisting Russian forces in the city of Artyomovsk (called Bakhmut in Ukraine), founder of the Wagner private military company Yevgeny Prigozhin said on Wednesday.

"Ukrainian armed forces are sending additional reserves to Artyomovsk, and trying with all their might to hold the city. Tens of thousands of Ukrainian troops are offering fierce resistance. The fighting is becoming increasingly deadly with every passing day," Prigozhin’s press service quoted him in a statement on Telegram.

Artyomovsk, located in the Kiev-controlled part of the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR), is an important transport hub in terms of Ukrainian military supplies. Heavy fighting is raging in the area. Acting DPR head Denis Pushilin said on February 16 that Russian forces had seized all the high ground in the Artyomovsk area. Yan Gagin, an advisor to the DPR leader, told TASS that Russian forces had cut off supply routes for Ukrainian units stationed in Artyomovsk.