Related video: Russia arrests US journalist on espionage allegations
Russian forces are continuing to make gains in Bakhmut but are suffering “significant casualties”, according to the Institute for the Study of War (ISW).
It comes as a Ukrainian general says Russia is sending more elite troops including special forces to support the Wagner Group in the battle for the besieged city in the east of the country.
“The defence forces exhausted the Wagnerites. The enemy is forced to involve special forces and airborne assault units in the battles for Bakhmut,” said Colonel General Oleksandr Syrskyi, commander of Ukraine’s ground forces.
He added that Vladimir Putin’s soldiers are “actively using their artillery and aviation, destroying the city that they cannot capture”.
This comes a day after a Russia-backed official said that Moscow’s forces control more than 75 per cent of Bakhmut but cautioned that it is still too early to talk about the besieged city’s fall.
US officials are trying to trace the source of the leak, the worst to hit the American military in many years.
