by ReutersUkraine said on Sunday it was still fighting for control of the eastern city of Bakhmut, after President Volodymyr Zelensky said earlier that the city remained “only in our hearts”.
Asked before a meeting with US President Joe Biden in Japan whether the city was still in Ukraine’s hands after the Russians said they had fully seized it, Zelensky told reporters, “I don’t Guess.”
He said: “For today, Bakhmut is only in our hearts.”
Zelensky’s press secretary later clarified that the leader was answering a different part of the question.
Sergei Nykiforov wrote on Facebook, “Reporter’s question: Russians say they took Bakhmut.” “The President’s Answer: I don’t think so.”
He added in Ukrainian: “As such, the president denied the capture of Bakhmut.”
Russia claimed on Saturday that it had completely taken control of an eastern Ukrainian city, which if true would mark the end of the longest and bloodiest battle of the 15-month war.
“It’s a tragedy,” Zelensky said. “There’s nothing in this place.”
The assault on the largely leveled city was led by soldiers from the Wagner Group of mercenaries, whose leader Yevgeny Prigozhin said earlier in the day that his troops had finally pushed the Ukrainians out of the last built-up area inside the city.