KYIV: Ukraine said Monday the situation was “difficult” in a village just north of Bakhmut, a day after the Russian paramilitary group Wagner claimed control of another settlement near the embattled eastern Ukrainian city.

Bakhmut has been the stage for the longest battle of the invasion.

“The situation is difficult near Soledar: the village of Paraskoviivka is under intense shelling and assaults,” the presidency said in its daily report.

Russia’s front in Ukraine moved 2 km to the west in four days

Soledar, captured by Russian troops in January, is just north of Bakhmut, which Russians have been trying to seize for over six months.

Paraskoviivka is further down the road, just at the gates of Bakhmut.

The Ukrainian general staff said that Russian troops had shelled 16 settlements near Bakhmut with tanks, mortars and artillery the previous day.

Experts have debated Bakhmut’s strategic importance, but the city has turned into a key political and symbolic prize as the battle has dragged on.

Recently, Russian troops seem to have made some headway.

On Sunday, Yevgeny Prigozhin, the leader of the Russian paramilitary group Wagner said his troops had taken the settlement of Krasna Gora, just nearby.

Russian forces cut three out of four supply routes of the Ukrainian army in Bakhmut, the Kremlin-appointed leader of the Donetsk region Denis Pushilin said Friday.

Ukraine also reported a “tense” situation near Vugledar, another town in Donetsk under Russian offensive.

“Russians continue to constantly shell the nearby settlements there,” the presidency said Monday.

Meanwhile in southern Kherson three people died and one was injured in the past 24 hours due to Russian attacks, the presidency also said.