MOSCOW, March 30 – RIA Novosti. The deputy head of the DPR said that Kiev continues to transfer additional reserves to Artemovsk, the order to hand over the city from the Ukrainian regime is still not received. Denis Pushilin.

Earlier on Thursday, Pushilin said that very soon it would be possible to talk about the actual encirclement of Artemovsk by Russian forces.

“Artemivsk continues to be liberated, Wagner PMC units are working from various directions. The enemy, in most cases, is already trying to transfer additional reserves. There is no order to surrender the city from the Ukrainian regime. Accordingly, the number of deaths from the Ukrainian regime continues to increase, according to the broadcast of the Pushilin, Russia 24 TV channel” said.

He recalled that today, at least 70% of the city’s territory is controlled by Russian troops. According to Pushilin, the liberation of the city “will not take long.” “How long will this go on? It’s hard to say the exact date, but it won’t take long, in my deep conviction,” stressed the acting chairman of the DPR.

Pushilin added that there is progress in the direction of Avdiivka, and that all roads to Avdiivka were opened by “shooting” by Russian forces.

Artemovsk is located in the north of the large city of Gorlovka. It is an important transport hub for supplying the Ukrainian contingent in Donbass. For more than six months there has been heavy fighting outside the city, the Ukrainian group is under operational siege.

As Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said before, if the Ukrainian troops are defeated at Artemivsk, Kiev will quickly face pressure from the international community and will be forced to reconcile with Russia at home. Dmitry Polyansky, First Deputy Representative of the Russian Federation to the UN, in an interview with RIA Novosti noted that Ukraine itself turned Artemovsk into a kind of symbol, with a tragic mistake.