There are conflicting reports about whether the strategically important town of Soledar in Donetsk in eastern Ukraine has been captured by Russian forces.
On Tuesday, the head of the Russian private military company, the Wagner Group, which has been fighting in the area around Soledar and Bakhmut for months, claimed that his fighters had taken "control of the entire territory of Soledar" while urban warfare was continuing.
Soledar is known for its salt mines, and capturing the town would give Russian forces an advantageous location from which to launch more assaults on nearby Bakhmut, capturing which is seen as a key goal for Russia as it looks to seize full control of the eastern Donetsk region.
Ukraine is being tight-lipped about Soledar's fate, with one official claiming yesterday that the town was only "semi-surrounded" and another saying that Ukrainian forces were holding out as fighting continued.