Ukraine said on Sunday it was still fighting for control of the eastern city of Bakhmut after President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said earlier that the city remained “only in our hearts”, Reuters reported, according to News.ro.

Asked before a meeting with US President Joe Biden in Japan whether the city was still in Ukrainian hands after the Russians said they had completely captured it, Zelenskyy told reporters: “I think not.” He added: “For today, Bakhmut is only in our hearts.”

Later, Zelenskyi’s press secretary clarified that the leader was answering the other part of the question. “Journalist’s question: Russians said they took Bakhmut,” Serhiy Nikiforov wrote on Facebook. “The president’s answer: I think not.”

He added in Ukrainian: “Thus the president denied the capture of Bakhmut.”

Russia said on Saturday it had fully captured a devastated city in eastern Ukraine, which, if true, would mark the end of the longest and bloodiest battle of the 15-month war.

“This is a tragedy,” Zelenskyi said. “There is nothing in this place.”

The storming of the largely destroyed city was led by the troops of Wagner’s group of mercenaries, whose leader Yevgeny Prigozhin had previously stated that his troops had finally pushed the Ukrainians out of the last settlement inside the city.

• Vladimir Putin congratulated Wagner’s mercenaries on the “liberation” of Bakhmut: “All those who distinguished themselves in battles will receive medals”