Wagner Group claims capture of Bakhmut in Ukraine war.

Russia claims to have fully captured the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut, marking the end of the longest and bloodiest battle of the 15-month war, but Ukraine denies the claim. The assault was led by troops from the Wagner group of mercenaries, whose leader Yevgeny Prigozhin said his troops had pushed the Ukrainians out of the last built-up area inside the city. The battle for Bakhmut has revealed a deepening split between Wagner and the regular Russian military. Moscow has long claimed that capturing Bakhmut would be a stepping stone towards advancing deeper into the Donbas region it claims to have annexed from Ukraine.