victory from vagner. after not mentioning vagner, when it claimed soledar had been taken, the russian defense ministry later said the mission was successfully solved by the courageous and selfless actions of the volunteers of the vagner assault squads. >> translator: 324 days of full scale war and how everything has changed for russia. they are already at each other's throats over who to attribute some tactical advancement to. this is a clear signal of failure for the enemy. >> reporter: and one of the brigades in soledar are doing much of the fighting said that they are hanging on but there is heavy fighting in the town and that they're being surrounded. a soldier on the ground told cnn yesterday that his window to get out was closing fast and now it appears that window has firmly shut. he believes that his unit has been left to surrender and he said that they won't be able to hide for very long. wolf. >> scott, thank you very much. in kyiv for us, stay safe over there. >>> joining us now, the ukrainian

vagner has faced american sanctions since 2017. 50,000 fighters in ukraine, most of them convicts. our north america correspondent, peter bowes, joins us now. what exactly is the work in a group? what exactly is the work in a arou - ? , , what exactly is the work in a i rou . ? , , ., what exactly is the work in a u-rou? , ., ,., group? this is a huge group of mercenaries _ group? this is a huge group of mercenaries and _ group? this is a huge group of mercenaries and as _ group? this is a huge group of mercenaries and as you - group? this is a huge group of mercenaries and as you say, l mercenaries and as you say, made up mostly of convex, people taken from russian prisoners believed to be in the region of 50,000 currently in ukraine, and it is a group that has been around for some time, most significantly in 2014, believed to be involved in the annexation of crimea. and then just before the invasion of ukraine by russia last year, in the months before they were involved in the so—called false flag attacks, these are the fate prov

these vagner guys have no choice. they're sentenced to death. and then the order comes to open fire. a and the city is really divided between russian and ukraine forces. fighting is going on in some areas, street to street and house-to-house. there is a significant military presence in the area, but sf speaking to ukrainian soldiers around the town they tell us there are a lot of russian forces that, it is very difficult at this point for the ukrainians to go on the offensive. the best they could do right now as you saw from parts of that report we did, they're digging trenches in the city as well as around the city and reinforcing their armor as much as possible in the event that -- and it seems like a probability at this point that the fighting resumes with an intensity we haven't seen before in bakhmut. john. >> the idea that it could get worse than you're see right there is chilling. thank you so much for your reporting. stay safe. >>> well as we noted, this morning in a special address to the world economic forum, ukrainian first lady said

the us says vagner employs 50,000 fighters in ukraine, most of them convicts. 0ur north america correspondents action now. this is another attempt by the united states to curb the activities of the wagner group, said to number some 50,000 in ukraine right now, made up mostly of convicts from russian prisons. it first came to prominence in 2014 during the annexation of crimea, and then in the months before the russian invasion of ukraine last year, wagner group were said to be involved in the false flag attacks that we heard so much about at that time — essentially the fake, provocative attacks that were supposedly designed to give moscow some justification for its invasion of ukraine. and ever since then, wagner group has been very prominent in ukraine, responsible, according to the united states, for a number of atrocities. and by debt designating them and organised crime group, this is an attempt to really curb its activities in notjust ukraine but globally, by making it more difficult for other countries, other organisations, other entities, to do business with this private group. somethin

. >> it will open up additional avenues for us to continue to not only sanction vagner and put more squeeze on their ability to do business around the world, but will assist others in doing the same. >> washington is also releasing new pictures of north korea's alleged arms shipments to mercenaries. u.s. officials believe this train carried the first batch of pyongyang's weapons for wagner in november, and that there will be more to come. we have more on multiple developments related to ukraine, and we're joined from london. first, on wagner, what's led to the decision, and concrete low what does it mean? >> reporter: it shows how concerned the u.s. is about wagner's expanding role on the ground and the rise of its leader. over the course of the last few weeks and months, he's openly criticized russia's organized army, openly criticized the deficits ministry say -- defense minutes industry saying they're failing to provide weapons that the troops need and is pointing to the mercenary group as being successful, as being behind some of the gains we've seen in recent days and weeks. this momen