Ukraine’s Zelenskiy thanks Bakhmut defenders as Wagner head says town has fallen

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Sunday that the military situation was “particularly hot” around Bakhmut, with no letup in a months-long drive to seize the city, the most protracted battle in the Russian invasion.
The founder of Russia’s Wagner mercenary force, Yevgeny Prigozhin, said his troops had raised a Russian flag on the administrative building in the city.
But there was no indication from Ukrainian officials that Bakhmut had fallen into Russian hands. Prigozhin has previously made claims that were premature.
“Thank you to our soldiers who are fighting in Avdiivka, Maryinka, and Bakhmut. Especially Bakhmut,” Zelenskiy said in his nightly video address. “It is especially hot there.”
Russian forces have for months been trying to encircle and capture Bakhmut, a town of 70,000 before the Russian invasion launched over a year ago.