Battle for Bakhmut is not over, says Ukraine

Ukrainian officials say their fighters played a key role in their strategy of exhausting Russian forces and that their current positions surrounding Bakhmut will let them strike back inside the 400-year-old city

Smoke rises from a building in Bakhmut (Libkos,/AP)

A senior Ukrainian politician has said the battle for Bakhmut is not over after Russia claimed it has won control of the city following a nine-month conflict in which tens of thousands of fighters died,

Deputy defence minister Hanna Maliar said on Monday that Ukrainian troops hold some areas in its south-western outskirts, while fighting continues for the strategic heights in the northern and southern parts of the suburbs.