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TOPSHOT - This video grab taken from a handout footage posted on May 20, 2023 on the Telegram account of the press service of Concord -- a company linked to the chief of Russian mercenary group Wagner, Yevgeny Prigozhin -- shows Yevgeny Prigozhin holding a Russian national flag in front of his soldiers holding Wagner Group's flags in Bakhmut, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Russia's private army Wagner claimed on May 20, 2023, the total control of the east Ukrainian city of Bakhmut, the epicentre of fighting, as Kyiv said the battle was continuing but admitted the situation was "critical". Bakhmut, a salt mining town that once had a population of 70,000 people, has been the scene of the longest and bloodiest battle in Moscow's more than year-long Ukraine offensive. The fall to Russia of Bakhmut, where both Moscow and Kyiv are believed to have suffered huge losses, would have high symbolic value. (Photo by Handout / various sources / AFP) / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE - MANDATORY CREDIT "AFP PHOTO / Telegram channel of Concord group" - NO MARKETING - NO ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS - DISTRIBUTED AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS (KEYSTONE/Telegram @concordgroup_official//HANDOUT)