Zelensky disputes Russian claim it has captured Bakhmut: 'There's nothing'

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has disputed Russia's claim it has captured Bakhmut amid an eight-month battle for the city in eastern Ukraine, the longest and likely bloodiest of the conflict.

Zelensky was asked whether Bakhmut was "still in Ukraine’s hands" after Russia claimed the Russian paramilitary organization, the Wagner Group, had captured the city before his meeting with President Joe Biden on the sidelines of the Group of Seven leaders summit in Hiroshima, Japan.

"I think no, but you have to — to understand that there is nothing," the Ukrainian president told reporters. "They’ve destroyed everything. There are no buildings. It's a pity. It’s tragedy."