Footage has emerged showing a column of advancing Russian tanks and armoured vehicles destroyed by Ukrainian artillery on Friday.
The video shows several Russian military vehicles attempting to cross the battlefield in the city of Avdiivka in the Donetsk region.
According to DailyMail, they are unsuccessful as they are repeatedly hit by Ukrainian ordnance.
At least one of them appears to explode in a giant fireball, with smoke billowing into the sky.
The images were obtained Friday from the 53rd Separate Mechanized Brigade, named after Volodymyr Monomakh of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, along with a statement.
The statement said: ‘Our warriors are our heroes! Our people are our heroes! Glory to Ukraine!’
The images and statement were also relayed by Operational Command East of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
Russian troops and mercenaries were closing off the last access routes to the besieged Ukrainian city of Bakhmut on Friday.
In a video filmed on a rooftop in an undisclosed location, Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin, dressed in a combat uniform, said he was calling on President Volodymyr Zelensky to order the evacuation of Bakhmut to save the lives of Ukrainian soldiers.
‘Units of the private military company Wagner have practically surrounded Bakhmut. Only one route (out) is left,’ he said. ‘The pincers are closing.’
The camera then panned to show three captured Ukrainians – an older man and two young boys – who looked frightened and asked to be allowed to go home, in what appeared to be a choreographed appearance under extreme stress.
