Moscow: Storm troops of the Wagner Group private military company (PMC), supported by the artillery and aviation of the Russian armed forces, have completed the liberation of the city of Bakhmut, also known as Artyomovsk, the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement on Sunday.

"The liberation of the city of Artyomovsk has been completed in the Artyomovsk tactical direction as a result of the offensive operations of the Wagner Group's storm troops with the artillery and aviation support of the [army's] South group of forces," the statement said.

The aviation has conducted six sorties in Bakhmut over the last 24 hours and the carried out 69 fire missions, the ministry said.

Ukrainian troops have also suffered a defeat near the cities of Kostyantynivka, Bohdanivka and Krasnyi in the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR), the ministry said, adding that a car bridge was destroyed near Krasnyi which had been used by Kiev to transport servicemen to Bakhmut, as well as a munition stockpile of the 60th mechanized brigade.

A counter-battery radar station AN/TPQ-50 was eliminated near the DPR city of Kalinin, the ministry also said.