There is a tale Ukrainian soldiers tell when discussing Russia’s claim that it is winning the war. It goes like this: “One man is 75 years old, another is 85. The older man tells his friend that he sleeps with a different woman every day. The younger man repeats the old man’s antics to another group of friends, expecting them to be impressed, but they just smile.”

Tihran, a 53-year-old soldier who is telling the story, takes a long drag of his cigarette. “They smile because they know his old friend is lying,” he says.

“Anyone can say what they want, it doesn’t mean it’s true.”

Earlier this week, Yevgeny Prigozhin, the head of the Wagner mercenary group and a close ally of Vladimir Putin, claimed his men had made significant gains in the Ukrainian stronghold of Bakhmut, a city that has been utterly devastated by the invasion as Russian forces have closed in on three sides.

In an effort to bolster his assertions, Prigozhin, who recruited the majority of his fighters from prisons, announced a Russian flag had been raised over the city’s administration building — a premature declaration the Ukrainians soon put paid to.

Serhiy Cherevatyi, a spokesman for Ukraine’s eastern military command, said: “Bakhmut is Ukrainian and they have not captured anything and are very far from doing that, to put it mildly.”

This unequivocal sentiment was echoed by the soldiers defending Bakhmut. Speaking to The Daily Telegraph less than six miles from the front line, Tihran and his coach, Bohdan, found Russia’s claims amusing.

“That isn’t true, we hold Bakhmut,” they responded, adding that the prospect of Russia taking the city was not something they were unduly “worried” about.

“The Russians can talk all they want but we hold Bakhmut and their happiness won’t last long,” Tihran said.

The Daily Telegraph, London