Moscow - (AFP) - The commander of the Russian paramilitary Wagner Group expected to take control of Bakhmut, the epicenter of the ongoing battles in eastern Ukraine, in "March or April", attributing the slow progress of the Russian forces to the "terrible military bureaucracy".

"I think (it will be) in March or April. In order to take control of Bakhmut, all supply routes must be cut off," Yevgeny Prigozhin said in a video posted on Telegram on Wednesday night.

In another video posted on his media website on Telegram, Prigozhin said, "I think we would have taken control of Bakhmut had it not been for that terrible military bureaucracy, and if they had not put obstacles in our way every day."

He said that his group's inability to recruit prisoners to send them to the fronts in return for an amnesty "drains" his group. "There will come a time when the number of units will decrease, and therefore the size of the tasks that we would like to carry out," he added.

The Wagner Special Group of mercenaries has been leading the attack on Bakhmut for months, incurring heavy losses and recruiting many of its members in Russian prisons to send them to fight in Ukraine.

On February 9, Prigozhin announced the cessation of these recruitment operations, and he no longer hid his disagreement with the Russian military leadership.

The leader of the Wagner Group was a hidden ally of the Kremlin, carrying out missions that the army could not undertake, while making sure to remain in the shadows.

But after years of denial, he recently publicly acknowledged that he is the founder of Wagner, whose fighters were seen in the Middle East and Africa. He also acknowledged his participation in Russian interference in the elections in the United States and that he created "electronic armies" that launch disinformation campaigns and spread false news on the Internet.