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Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said “there is nothing left” in Bakhmut, as Russia claimed control of the city after months of fierce fighting which has left it in ruins.

The country’s president said the invading forces had “destroyed everything”.

Mr Zelenskyy was speaking alongside US President Joe Biden at the G7 summit in Hiroshima, Japan, where he has been seeking to rally international support.

Read more:
The latest updates on the war in Ukraine

Relentless Russian shelling has left few buildings standing in the eastern city, which has also witnessed ferocious house-to-house battles.

Both Russia and Ukraine have suffered losses believed to be in the thousands, though neither has disclosed casualty numbers.

Mr Zelenskyy said: “You have to understand that there is nothing”.

“They destroyed everything.”

“For today, Bakhmut is only in our hearts,” he added.

“There is nothing in this place.”

There was confusion over whether he had been asked whether the city was still in Kyiv’s hands or Russian forces had taken Bakhmut, but a spokesman for the Ukrainian leader said his comments were a denial that the city had fallen.

Earlier, Russian President Vladimir Putin congratulated his troops for capturing the city. which is in the Donetsk region.

Use the sliders below to see Maxar satellite images of Bakhmut 12 months ago compared to today

The Kremlin’s defence ministry and head of the Wagner mercenary group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, had both claimed the city was under Russian control on Saturday.

Mr Prigozhin said: “We completely took the whole city, from house to house.

“We fought not only with the Ukrainian armed forces in Bakhmut.

“We fought the Russian bureaucracy, which threw sand in the wheels.”

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Wagner Group: ‘Bakhmut is taken’

Read more:
Terror and desperation inside Bakhmut’s blackened nightmare

Appearing in a video in front of fighters holding Russian flags and Wagner banners, he said his forces would withdraw from the city from 25 May for rest and retraining, handing control to the regular Russian army.

This satellite image provided by MaxarTechnologies shows the demolished university buildings and the radio tower in Bakhmut, Ukraine. Pic:AP
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This satellite image provided by MaxarTechnologies shows the demolished university buildings and the radio tower in Bakhmut, Ukraine. Pic:AP

According to Russian news agencies, Mr Putin said those who had fought in Bakhmut had distinguished themselves and would be given awards.

Fighting has raged in and around the city for more than eight months.

Russian forces will still face the massive task of seizing the remaining part of the Donetsk region still under Ukrainian control, including several heavily fortified areas.

Kyiv has previously said its aim in Bakhmut was to draw Russian forces in and to inflict high casualties to weaken Moscow’s defence before a major counter-offensive.

Mr Zelenskyy underlined the importance of defending “fortress Bakhmut” in March, saying its fall could allow Russia to garner support for a deal that might require Kyiv to make unacceptable compromises.

Analysts have said Bakhmut’s fall would be a blow to Ukraine and give some tactical advantages to Russia but would not prove decisive to the outcome of the war.

Russian forces will still face the massive task of seizing the remaining part of the Donetsk region still under Ukrainian control, including several heavily fortified areas.

The provinces of Donetsk and neighbouring Luhansk make up the Donbas, Ukraine’s industrial heartland where a separatist uprising began in 2014 and which Moscow illegally annexed in September.

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Twelve British soldiers injured in major traffic pile-up in Estonia – local media

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Twelve British soldiers injured in major traffic pile-up in Estonia - local media

Twelve British soldiers were injured in a major traffic pile-up in Estonia, close to the border with Russia, local media have reported.

Eight of the troops – part of a major NATO mission to deter Russian aggression – were airlifted back to the UK for hospital treatment on Sunday after the incident, which happened in snowy conditions on Friday, it is understood.

Five of these personnel have since been discharged with three still being kept in the military wing of the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham.

The crash happened at an intersection at around 5pm on Friday when the troops were travelling in three minibuses back to their base at Tapa.

Two civilian cars, driven by Estonians, are thought to have collided, triggering a chain reaction, with four other vehicles – comprising the three army Toyota minibuses and a third civilian car – piling into each other.

According to local media reports, the cars that initially collided were a Volvo S80, driven by a 37-year-old woman and a BMW 530D, driven by a 62-year-old woman.

The Estonian Postimees news site reported that 12 British soldiers were injured as well as five civilians. They were all taken to hospital by ambulance.

The British troops are serving in Estonia as part of Operation Cabrit, the UK’s contribution to NATO’s “enhanced forward presence” mission, which spans nations across the alliance’s eastern flank and is designed to deter attacks from Russia.

Around 900 British troops are deployed in Estonia, including a unit of Challenger 2 tanks.

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A spokesperson for the Ministry of Defence said: “Several British soldiers deployed on Operation CABRIT in Estonia were injured in a road traffic incident last Friday, 22nd November.

“Following hospital treatment in Estonia, eight personnel were flown back to the UK on an RAF C-17 for further treatment.

“Five have since been discharged and three are being cared for at the Royal Centre for Defence Medicine, Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham. We wish them all a speedy recovery.”

Defence Secretary John Healey said: “Following the road traffic incident involving British personnel in Estonia, my thoughts are with all those affected, and I wish those injured a full, swift recovery.

“Thanks to the Royal Centre for Defence Medicine at Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham for their excellent care.”

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Egypt: Two Britons believed to be among 16 missing as tourist boat sinks after being ‘hit by large wave’

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Egypt: Two Britons believed to be among 16 missing as tourist boat sinks after being 'hit by large wave'

Two Britons are believed to be among more than a dozen people missing after a boat sank in the Red Sea off the Egyptian coast.

The yacht, called Sea Story, had 44 people on board, including 31 tourists of varying nationalities and 13 crew.

Authorities are searching for 16 people, including 12 foreign nationals and four Egyptians, the governor of the Red Sea region said, adding that 28 other people had been rescued.

Preliminary reports suggested a sudden large wave struck the vessel, capsizing it within about five minutes, governor Amr Hanafi said.

“Some passengers were in their cabins, which is why they were unable to escape,” he added in a statement.

Pic: STR/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock

More than dozen missing after tourist boat sinks off Red Sea in Egypt, Marsa Alam - 25 Nov 2024
Survivors of the sinking boat rest at a harbor in Marsa Alam, Red Sea Governorate, in Egypt 25 Novermber 2024.
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Survivors rescued from the Sea Story in Marsa Alam. Pic: STR/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock

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Passengers rescued from sunken tourist boat

The people who were rescued only suffered minor injuries such as bruises and scrapes with none needing hospital treatment.

A Foreign, Commonwealth and Development office spokesperson said: “We are providing consular support to a number of British nationals and their families following an incident in Egypt and are in contact with the local authorities.”

The foreign nationals aboard the 34-metre-long vessel, owned by an Egyptian national, included Americans, Belgians, British, Chinese, Finns, Germans, Irish, Poles, Slovakians, Spanish, and Swiss.

Sea Story had no technical problems, obtained all required permits before the trip, and was last checked for naval safety in March, according to officials.

The four-deck, wooden-hulled motor yacht was part of a multi-day diving trip when it went down near the coastal town of Marsa Alam following warnings about rough weather.

Egypt map

Officials said a distress call was received at 5.30am local time on Monday.

The boat had left Port Ghalib in Marsa Alam on Sunday and was scheduled to reach its destination of Hurghada Marina on 29 November.

The Sea Story was carrying 45 people according to a statement by the Red Sea Governorate.
Pic: Dive Pro Liveaboard
Image:
The Sea Story had 44 people on board. File pic: Dive Pro Liveaboard

Some survivors had been airlifted to safety on a helicopter, officials said.

The firm that operates the yacht, Dive Pro Liveaboard in Hurghada, said it has no information on the matter.

According to its maker’s website, the Sea Story was built in 2022.

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The incident comes after the Egyptian Meteorological Authority issued a warning on Saturday about turbulence and high waves on the Red Sea.

The organisation had advised against maritime activity for Sunday and Monday.

Some tourist companies have stopped or limited operations on the Red Sea due to the potential dangers from conflicts in the region.

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Prosecutors file to drop 2020 presidential election interference charges against Trump

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Prosecutors file to drop 2020 presidential election interference charges against Trump

A motion has been filed to drop the charges against Donald Trump of plotting to overturn the 2020 US presidential election result.

Mr Trump was first indicted on four felonies in August 2023: Conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, obstruction of and an attempt to obstruct an official proceeding, and conspiracy against rights.

The president-elect pleaded not guilty to all charges and the case was then put on hold for months as Mr Trump’s team argued he could not be prosecuted.

U.S. Special Counsel Jack Smith looks on as he makes a statement to reporters after a grand jury returned an indictment of former U.S. President Donald Trump in the special counsel's investigation of efforts to overturn his 2020 election defeat, at Smith's offices in Washington, U.S. August 1, 2023. REUTERS/Kevin Wurm TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY
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Special Counsel Jack Smith. Pic: Reuters

Donald Trump supporters storm the US Capitol
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Donald Trump supporters storm the US Capitol

On Monday, prosecutors working with special counsel Jack Smith, who had led the investigation, asked a federal judge to dismiss the case over long-standing US justice department policy, dating back to the 1970s, that presidents cannot be prosecuted while in office.

It marks the end of the department’s landmark effort to hold Mr Trump accountable for the attack on the US Capitol on 6 January 2021 when thousands of Trump supporters assaulted police, broke through barricades, and swarmed the Capitol in a bid to prevent the US Congress from certifying Joe Biden’s 2020 election victory.

Trump plays blinder as accusers forced to turn blind eye over Capitol riots

In winning the White House, he avoids the so-called ‘big house’.

Whether or not prison was a prospect awaiting Donald Trump is a moot point now, as he now enjoys the protection of the presidency.

The delay strategy that he pursued through a grinding court process knocked his federal prosecution past the election date and when his numbers came up, he wasn’t going down.

Politically, and legally, he has played a blinder.

Read more analysis from James Matthews here

Mr Smith’s team had been assessing how to wind down both the election interference case and the separate classified documents case in the wake of Mr Trump’s election victory over vice president Kamala Harris earlier this month, effectively killing any chance of success for the case.

In court papers, prosecutors said “the [US] Constitution requires that this case be dismissed before the defendant is inaugurated”.

They said the ban [on prosecuting sitting presidents] “is categorical and does not turn on the gravity of the crimes charged, the strength of the government’s proof, or the merits of the prosecution, which the government stands fully behind”.

Mr Trump, who has said he would sack Mr Smith as soon as he takes office in January, and promised to pardon some convicted rioters, has long dismissed both the 2020 election interference case and the separate classified documents case as politically motivated.

Trump supporters try to break through a police barrier at the Capitol in Washington
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Trump supporters try to break through a police barrier at the Capitol in Washington. Pic: AP

He was accused of illegally keeping classified papers after leaving office in 2021, some of which were allegedly found in his Mar-a-Lago home in Florida.

The election interference case stalled after the US Supreme Court ruled in July that former presidents have broad immunity from prosecution, which Mr Trump’s lawyers exploited to demand the charges against him be dismissed.

Mr Smith’s request to drop the case still needs to be approved by US District Judge Tanya Chutkan.

No date had been set for a trial.

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At least 1,500 cases have been brought against those accused of trying to overthrow the election result on 6 January 2021, resulting in more than 1,100 convictions, the Associated Press said.

More than 950 defendants have been sentenced and 600 of them jailed for terms ranging from a few days to 22 years.

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