The head of Russia's notorious Wagner mercenary group claims that the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut -- the scene of devastating shelling and fighting over the past several months -- is nearly surrounded with only one final escape route remaining open.
Reuters journalists on March 3 observed massive Russian shelling of the road leading out of Bakhmut to the west as Kremlin-backed forces sought to block the withdrawal of Ukrainian troops and reported that a bridge in the adjacent village of Khromove had been severely damaged.
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"Units of the private military company Wagner have practically surrounded Bakhmut," Yevgeny Prigozhin, a Kremlin-linked businessman and co-founder and owner of the Wagner mercenary group, said in a video.
"Only one route is left [out of Bakhmut]. The pincers are closing," he added.
The claims could not be independently verified, but Reuters reported that Ukrainian fighters were digging in at defensive sites and were not yet ready to give up the town.
The Ukrainian military said earlier on March 3 that intense fighting was under way in Bakhmut, as Kyiv's forces had repelled multiple waves of Russian attacks in the disputed city in the eastern Donetsk region.
Besides Bakhmut, which has been the epicenter of the battle in the east for months, the Ukrainian military fought off at least 85 attacks by the Russian forces in the direction of the cities of Lyman, Avdiyivka, and Shakhtarsk in Donetsk and in Kupyansk, in the northern Kharkiv region, the General Staff of the Ukrainian military said in its daily report.
After losing some territory to Ukrainian forces in the second part of last year, Moscow has launched a new offensive in Ukraine's Donbas region, seeking to push back Ukrainian forces in several locations.
Russia has been throwing waves of infantry at Bakhmut in its attempt to surround it and cut the Ukrainian supply lines.
WATCH: As Russia concentrates its efforts on the industrial city, Ukrainian artillery units are pushing back against waves of assaults by Russian troops.
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Kyiv Says Situation In Bakhmut 'More And More Difficult'
Ukrainian officials have suggested their troops might have to pull out of Bakhmut entirely once the defense of the city becomes too costly and withdraw to new positions in the west and northwest, where Ukrainians are reported to have far stronger defensive positions.
Volodymyr Nazarenko, one of the commanders of Ukraine's National Guard, told Ukrainian radio that the situation in Bakhmut is "critical."
Nazarenko said the Ukrainian forces are seeking to exact as heavy a cost as possible on the Russian forces before withdrawing.
"Every meter of Ukrainian land costs hundreds of lives to the enemy," Nazarenko said.
Western experts have questioned the Russian push for Bakhmut, saying it has less strategic and symbolic value for Russia.
Russian forces continued to shell civilian infrastructure overnight, the Ukrainian military said, wounding civilians and causing damage.
SEE ALSO: Interview: Mobilizing Hundreds Of Thousands Of Russians 'Doesn't By Itself Give You A Capability'"The enemy continues to violate the norms of International Humanitarian Law. Thus, the occupiers carried out 31 air strikes and three missile strikes, in particular on civilian infrastructure in the Donetsk, Zaporizhzhya, and Kherson regions. There are wounded civilians, high-rise apartment buildings and private houses have been damaged," the military said.
Meanwhile, the United States announced on March 3 that it will provide a fresh $400-million military aid package for Ukraine. The new aid was announced during German Chancellor Olaf Scholz's visit to Washington.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the assistance package "includes more ammunition for U.S.-provided HIMARS and howitzers, which Ukraine is using so effectively to defend itself, as well as ammunition for Bradley Infantry Fighting Vehicles, Armored Vehicle Launched Bridges, demolitions munitions and equipment, and other maintenance, training, and support."
Washington has so far given nearly $32 billion in military aid to Ukraine since the start of Russia's unprovoked invasion in February last year.
Late on March 3, the White House said that U.S. President Joe Biden "reaffirmed the strong bilateral relationship" with Germany during his meeting with Scholz, as both leaders reiterated their commitment to impose high costs on Moscow over the Ukraine war.
On March 2, Moscow alleged that a group of Ukrainian saboteurs crossed into western Russia and fired on civilians in villages, a claim that Kyiv denied, while suggesting Moscow might be seeking a "false flag" pretext to stage new attacks on Ukraine.
Details about the March 2 incident, near the southwest city of Bryansk, were not entirely clear.
In Kyiv, Mykhaylo Podolyak, a senior adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, called the Russian statements a "classic deliberate provocation."