MOSCOW, March 27. /TASS/. The Ukrainian military command’s attempts to deploy elite forces and Western-trained troops to Artyomovsk (called Bakhmut in Ukraine) and use them as infantry in the fight for the city suggest a desperate situation for Ukraine’s army in that area, Lugansk People’s Republic (LPR) people’s militia retired Lieutenant-Colonel Andrey Marochko said on Monday.

"Ukrainian media outlets are full of headlines that even commando units are being sent to Artyomovsk to fight as infantry. This suggests that the situation is quite critical for Ukrainian troops now that they throw their elite units into this slaughter," the retired officer said in a live broadcast on Komsomolskaya Pravda radio.

The Ukrainian military is daily losing 200 troops in the Artyomovsk area, Marochko said.

Artyomovsk is located on the Kiev-controlled part of the Donetsk People’s Republic and is a major transportation hub for the Ukrainian army’s supplies in Donbass. Fierce fighting for the city is underway. Yan Gagin, adviser to the acting head of the Donetsk People’s Republic, said last week that the city had been practically fully sealed off by Russian forces and all approaches to it were under Russian artillery’s control. He said that Russian forces had liberated about 70% of Artyomovsk.