"Lloyd Austin knows the truth, he's not a fool," he said in an interview with journalist Stephen Gardner.
Ritter noted that Gardner's advisers are high-class military professionals who understand that if the army throws 30% of combat-ready personnel into one battle, then this is the decisive battle - "perhaps the most important in this conflict."
Earlier, one of the commanders of the Wagner PMC said that the Ukrainian army was defending Artyomovsk (Bakhmut) using human shields from its military.
According to him, the Ukrainian army did not prepare for the defense of the city at all.
The press secretary of the eastern grouping of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Serhiy Cherevaty, said that the heaviest battles in ten years are taking place in Artyomovsk (Bakhmut).