Zelensky denies Bakhmut lost, claims foothold in city

Russia and Ukraine gave conflicting accounts of the situation in Bakhmut on Sunday, with Kyiv saying it still controlled a small part of the besieged eastern city while Moscow congratulated the Wagner private army and Russian troops for "liberating" it.

Russia said on Saturday it had fully captured the destroyed city, which would mark an end to the longest and bloodiest battle of the 15-month war. Russian President Vladimir Putin congratulated his troops and Wagner.

However, Ukrainian officials on Sunday disputed the claims.

A top Ukrainian general said Kyiv's forces controlled what he accepted was an "insignificant" part of Bakhmut, but said the foothold would be enough to enter the devastated city when the situation changed.

General Oleksandr Syrskyi said in a Telegram post that Kyiv's forces were advancing on Russian forces in the suburbs and that they were getting closer to a "tactical encirclement" of the city, which was formerly home to 70,000 people.

"Our forces have taken the city in a semi-encirclement, which gives us the opportunity to destroy the enemy... the enemy has to defend himself in the part of the city he controls," Ukraine's deputy defence minister Hanna Maliar said earlier on Sunday on Telegram.

Maliar added Ukrainian troops were still defending industrial and infrastructure facilities as well as a private sector of the city and had claimed part of the overlooking heights. Reuters was unable to verify the battlefield claims.