MOSCOW - Moscow said on Tuesday it had thwarted another major offensive by Ukraine in Donetsk, destroying military equipment and inflicting huge personnel losses, a statement that the powerful head of Russia’s Wagner mercenary group dismissed as “absurd science fiction”.

Russia’s Defence Ministry said that its forces had repelled Ukraine’s second major offensive in two days.

The ministry said it destroyed, among other military equipment, eight main battle Leopard tanks supplied to Ukraine by its Western allies and 109 armoured vehicles.

It also said that total Ukrainian losses amounted to 1,500 troops.

There was no immediate comment from Kyiv about Russia’s assertions and Reuters was not able to verify the claims.

Both sides have often made claims of inflicting heavy human losses on each other, which could not be independently verified.

Mr Yevgeny Prigozhin, whose Wagner Group spent months fighting in Bakhmut and who has frosty relations with Moscow, cast doubt on the Defence Ministry statement, however.

To kill that many people would require daily gains of 150km, he said in remarks published on the Telegram channel of his press service.

“I therefore believe that this is simply wild and absurd science fiction,” said Mr Prigozhin.

Totting up the figures provided by the ministry would imply “we have already destroyed the entire planet five times over”, he added sarcastically.

Mr Prigozhin has frequently clashed with Moscow’s defence establishment.

He has taken issue over the conduct of Russia’s campaign in Ukraine and what he says is insufficient support being provided to his Wagner soldiers, which has led to needlessly heavy losses.

On Monday, he decried the loss to Ukrainian forces of a village near Bakhmut and said tactics used by regular Russian forces would lead to more setbacks within two weeks.

Mr Prigozhin made his comments as a top Russian-backed official in Donetsk described the military situation around Bakhmut as difficult.

Mr Prigozhin’s Wagner militia captured virtually all of Bakhmut in Ukraine’s east in May after the longest battle of the war and handed its positions there to regular Russian troops.

Since then, Ukraine has continued to attack areas north and south of the city.

“Now part of the settlement of Berkhivka has already been lost, the troops are quietly running away. Disgrace!” Mr Prigozhin said in an audio message published by his press service.

Berkhivka lies about 3km north-west of Bakhmut, and Wagner claimed its capture on Feb 24.

In an interview posted on Telegram later on Monday, Mr Prigozhin said Russia’s Defence Ministry was duping the public and Kremlin leaders with its tactics.

He said Ukrainian movements in the area “can happen much faster than our advances”.

“The Ministry of Defence’s tactics are malicious and deceptive,” he said in the online interview.

“The Ministry of Defence’s main goal is to pretend that everything is okay and that we are advancing. In reality, what is happening now... will result in significant tactical defeats in two weeks’ time.”

Mr Prigozhin also urged Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu and the Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov to come to the front to rally the troops.

“Come on, you can do it!” he said in his message. “And if you can’t, you’ll die heroes.”

Russia has meanwhile said that Ukrainian forces have begun a major offensive in the southern region of Donetsk, although it is unclear if Ukraine’s long-anticipated counter-offensive has begun.

Kyiv pressed on for the second day in a row, the Russian Defence Ministry said on its Telegram channel on Tuesday.

“Having suffered heavy losses the day before, the Kiev regime reorganised the remnants of the 23rd and 31st mechanised brigades into separate consolidated units, which continued offensive operations,” the ministry said, adding that “a complex fire defeat” had been inflicted.

Ukrainian officials have made no mention of any broad, significant new campaign and sidestepped questions on the matter on Monday. REUTERS