MOSCOW, April 27. /TASS/. Russian forces have placed the Ukrainian army’s last supply route in Artyomovsk (called Bakhmut in Ukraine) under their gunfire control, acting Head of the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) Denis Pushilin said on Thursday.

"The road section in the Khromovo area is under full gunfire control. This was the last road. However, the enemy all the same has the possibility to move even under shelling. The enemy loses a part of its reserves along the route," the acting DPR head said in a live broadcast on the Rossiya-24 television channel.

Some Ukrainian army units are trying to move outside roads across fields, he added.

Russian forces keep dislodging Ukrainian troops in Artyomovsk. However, the Ukrainian military is still keeping positions in the area of high-rise apartment buildings on an area of 1 to 1.5 kilometers in the city’s western part, Pushilin 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. On April 18, Yan Gagin, adviser to the acting head of the Donetsk People’s Republic, told TASS that Russian forces controlled already almost 90% of the territory of Artyomovsk. Pushilin earlier said that Russian forces had advanced in the city’s northwestern and western parts but the situation in Artyomovsk remained tense.