Yevgeny Prigozhin, the owner of a private military contractor with connections to Vladimir Putin, predicted the war in Ukraine could last up to three years depending on the Russian military’s ability to secure the country’s eastern territories, the AP reports. Prigozhin’s Wagner group of mercenaries, many of whom were enlisted from Russian prisons, recently succeeded in capturing the Ukrainian town Soledar. Discussing the neighboring city of Bakhmut, “there are many roads out and fewer roads in,” Prigozhin said in his interview with a Russian military correspondent. “Ukrainian troops are well trained… and like any large city, it is impossible to capture it from head-on. We are managing very well.”