MOSCOW, April 24. /TASS/. The Russian army is slowly but surely "grinding down" Kiev’s forces in Artyomovsk (Ukrainian name Bakhmut), Yevgeny Prigozhin, the founder of the PMC Wagner group said on Monday.

"Our task is to grind down the Ukrainian army, to not leave the door open for a counteroffensive. We are having a lot of success with this. Those groups of Ukrainian troops which now reside in Artyomovsk and are being attacked by us occupy an area of one kilometer by two kilometers," Prigozhin was quoted as saying on the Telegram channel of his press service.

"I can say that our guys are doing a great job, but as for myself there is room for improvement, because it is necessary to fight harder, so that not a single Ukrainian soldier is left," he added.

Artyomovsk is located in the Kiev-controlled part of the Donetsk People’s Republic. It is an important transport hub for bringing supplies to Ukrainian troops in Donbass. Yan Gagin, an adviser to the DPR's acting head, told TASS on April 18 that Russian forces already controlled almost 90% of Artyomovsk. On April 23, Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said that assault groups had liberated two blocks of Artyomovsk in a twenty-four-hour period, with airborne troops providing support.