Russia's Wagner group claims to have captured Bakhmut but Ukraine says it still controls a part of it

The chief of the Russian private military group Wagner, Yevgeny Prigozhin, claimed Saturday that his forces have taken complete control of the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut after months of brutal fighting.

"The operation to capture Bakhmut lasted 224 days," he said in a video posted to Telegram, seeking to claim a final victory in the city.

CNN could not independently verify Prigozhin's claim, but an initial response from the Ukrainian side disputed it.

Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar, in a Telegram post less than an hour after the Russian mercenary's claim was published, admitted the situation in Bakhmut was "critical" but said Ukrainian troops were still "holding the defense" in a district on Bakhmut's western-most edge.

"As of now, our defenders control certain industrial and infrastructure facilities in the area and the private sector," she said.

Prigozhin added that his forces will hand the control of Bakhmut to the Russian military on May 25.

"Until May 25, we will completely inspect it, create the necessary defense lines and hand it over to the military so that they can continue to work, and we ourselves will go to field camps," he said.