New Delhi: Russia on Saturday claimed that it has captured the east Ukrainian city of Bakhmut, the epicentre of the fighting, which would mark an end to the 15-month-long conflict, reported news agency Reuters.
President Vladimir Putin congratulated his troops and the private mercenary group Wagner on capturing the city and said those who had distinguished themselves would be given awards, Reuters reported citing domestic Russian news agencies.
The Russian army made the announcement just hours after Kyiv said the battle was continuing, while admitting that the situation was "critical", and with Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky meeting G7 leaders in Japan, news agency Associated Press reported.
Bakhmut, a salt-mining town that once had a population of 70,000 people, has been the scene of the longest and bloodiest battle in Moscow's more than year-long Ukraine offensive.
Yevgeny Prigozhin, the leader of the Wagner Group of mercenaries, said earlier in the day that his troops had finally pushed the Ukrainians out of the last built-up area inside the city, according to Reuters.
"As a result of offensive actions by Wagner assault units, supported by artillery and aviation of the Southern Group of Forces, the liberation of Artyomovsk has been completed," the Russian defence ministry said in a one-line statement.
"Today, at 12 noon, Bakhmut was completely taken," Prigozhin said in a video. "We completely took the whole city, from house to house."
Reacting to Prigozhin's comments before Russia's announcement, Ukrainian military spokesperson Serhiy Cherevatyi had told Reuters, "This is not true. Our units are fighting in Bakhmut."
Saturday's claims came as Kyiv prepared its counteroffensive, the next major phase in the war after six months during which it kept its forces on the defensive while weathering Russia's big offensive.
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy attended the G7 summit of major industrial powers in Japan on Saturday, winning pledges of support including a signal from Washington that it would now back the training of Ukrainian pilots to fly F-16 warplanes. Previously, sending combat aircraft had been taboo.
En route to Japan, Zelenskiy stopped at an Arab summit in Saudi Arabia.