The head of Russia’s mercenary group Wagner has said his forces had taken control of the eastern Ukrainian mining town of Soledar but that fighting continued, Russian news agencies reported.
Ukraine had said earlier in the day that its forces were still holding out despite a Russian onslaught.
Soledar has been the focus of days of intense fighting as Russia has viewed it as key to its campaign for the nearby strategic city of Bakhmut and Ukraine’s larger eastern Donbas region.
