VLADIMIR Putin's bloodthirsty Wagner Group claim to have seized control of the wasteland city of Bakhmut.
It is the latest small gain for Russian forces around the warzone which has been described as the bloodiest battle of the war so far.
Ukraine estimates some 30,000 Russians have died in the "meat grinder" - with battle raging for the past nine months.
President Volodymyr Zelensky has vowed Ukraine will not retreat - despite also facing heavy losses.
And he warned at the weekend there will be "open road" through his country's east if Russia captures Bakhmut.
Meanwhile, the leader of the Wagner mercenary group Yevgeny Prigozhin announced his fighters captured the east of the city.
The Ukrainian military is now hanging on to positions and inflicting as many casualties as possible on enemy forces in a desperate attempt to grind down their fighting capability.
The General Staff of Ukraine's armed forces said: "The enemy, despite significant losses, continues to storm the town of Bakhmut."
Prigozhin, known as Putin's Chef, bragged his forces had captured part of the city - but the victory has come
He said via Telegram: "Everything east of the Bakhmutka River is completely under the control of Wagner."
If the warlord's claims are true, Russian forces would now control nearly half of Bakhmut.
The chilling update comes as NATO's leader predicted the rest of the city could fall to the invading army in the next few days.
Speaking before a European Union defence ministers conference, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said Russia was throwing more troops into the battle.
He said: "They have suffered big losses but at the same time we cannot rule out that Bakhmut may eventually fall in the coming days.
"This would not necessarily be a turning point in the war, he added, but it showed 'we should not underestimate Russia'."
On Tuesday, the Ukrainian National Guard's chief medic told Reuters that all roads in the area were under heavy shelling.
He said: "Ambulances and other vehicles come under shelling and for that reason it is very difficult to evacuate people.
"There are high losses, and among medics in particular."
Pictures obtained by The Sun Online showed the scale of destruction in Bakhmut.
Images of apartment blocks on fire, residential areas ravaged and soldiers being slaughtered have become commonplace for the hard-fought area.
Russian troops have launched a pincer movement to surround the town from the north and south after struggling to blast their way forward with a full-frontal assault lasting months.
Almost every building has been reduced to rubble, yet amazingly some 4,000 civilians, including 37 children, are still there.
Iryna Vereshchuk, Ukrainian deputy premier, said less than 4,000 civilians out of a pre-war population of some 70,000 remain in Bakhmut.
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/21643615/putins-thugs-control-east-bakhmut/
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