But a Russian war reporter for state television said Russian troops may be facing a full-scale encirclement following successful Ukrainian attacks on the flanks of the Wagner forces.

Evgeny Poddubny wrote on Telegram that Ukrainian forces managed to break through the Russian lines around Soledar, which is just a few kilometres northeast of Bakhmut.

Wagner’s Prigozhin had previously warned several times of an imminent encirclement due to unsecured flanks.

“The situation is difficult,” Poddubny wrote. Russian forces only managed to take Soledar at the end of January after weeks of heavy fighting.

His comments came after Prigozhin renewed his criticism of the Russian defence establishment for failing to provide his fighters with sufficient support in the battle for the Ukrainian city.

“Ukrainian units are advancing on the flanks in Bakhmut – and unfortunately, they are partially succeeding in doing so,” Prigozhin said on Telegram. Meanwhile, he said, his troops are still struggling with a shortage of ammunition “because the promises of the Defence Ministry have not been fulfilled”.

“The situation on the flanks is developing according to the worst of all predicted scenarios,” he said. Hard-fought terrain won over months of intense fighting is “today being abandoned practically without a fight by those who are supposed to hold our flanks”.

The independent internet medium Medusa reported that Prigozhin’s constant criticism of Moscow had begun to “seriously worry the country’s top leadership,” citing its own sources.

Prigozhin allegedly referred to Putin a few days ago as a “happy grandpa” and wondered what would happen to Russia if the grandpa turned out to be “a complete idiot?”

His remarks, in an interview with European broadcasters on Thursday, were aired shortly before Britain said it has sent Ukraine air-launched cruise missiles that would allow pilots to extend their reach farther than possibly any other weapon in their arsenal, to locations deep behind the front line.

A Ukrainian counteroffensive against Russia’s more than 14-month-old invasion has been expected as winter turned to spring, and Zelensky said in an interview that “we can go forward and be successful,” according to the BBC.

“But we’d lose a lot of people. I think that’s unacceptable,” he was quoted as saying in the interview, conducted in Kyiv with public service broadcasters who are members of Eurovision News, including the BBC.

“So we need to wait. We still need a bit more time,” Zelensky was quoted as saying. “In terms of equipment, not everything has arrived yet.”

Since the start of Russia’s invasion, Kyiv has received more than US$150 billion in aid, including US$65 billion in military assistance, according to a count by the German defence ministry.

Ukraine has received hundreds of other tanks, aircraft, munitions and other arms from its Western allies.

Wagner Prigozhin accused Zelensky of being “dishonest” in the interview.

Ukraine’s counteroffensive “is in full swing”, Prigozhin said.

Despite the Moscow’s own reports of some breakthroughs on Thursday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russia is still “far away” from reaching some of its self-declared goals since launching the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Peskov did not elaborate on the conflict between Prigozhin and the Russian leadership, referring only to “overflowing emotions”.

Moscow has repeatedly explained its lack of advances on the battlefield as an effort to protect civilians, but those claims have been proven false, with frequent attacks on civilian buildings.

dpa, Associated Press and Agence France-Presse