Zelenskyy says ‘Bakhmut is only in our hearts’ after Russia claims control of Ukrainian city

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Sunday that Bakhmut was “only in our hearts,” hours after Russia’s defense ministry reported that forces of the Wagner private army, with the support of Russian troops, had seized the city in eastern Ukraine.

Speaking alongside U.S. President Joe Biden at the Group of Seven summit in Hiroshima, Japan, Zelenskyy said the Russians had destroyed “everything.” “You have to understand that there is nothing,” he said.

“For today, Bakhmut is only in our hearts,” he said. “There is nothing in this place.”

The Russian ministry statement on the Telegram channel came about eight hours after a similar announcement by Wagner head Yevgeny Prigozhin. Ukrainian authorities at that time said that fighting for Bakhmut was continuing.

The eight-month battle for Bakhmut has been the longest and probably most bloody of the conflict in Ukraine.