The head of the Wagner Group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, has dismissed claims made by Russia’s defence ministry that it had thwarted a large-scale offensive by Ukraine, inflicting heavy losses. Prigozhin, who has been critical of Russia’s military leadership, called the claims “wild fantasies” on his Telegram channel. The defence ministry had said that its forces had repelled a major Ukraine offensive in the southern part of Donetsk, killing around 1,500 Ukrainian troops and destroying military equipment. There was no immediate response from Kyiv, and the claims could not be verified independently.