KYIV, Jan 12 - Ukrainian forces in the eastern city of Soledar are holding their positions and inflicting significant losses on Russia troops, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in a video address on Thursday, Reuters reported.

A Russian-installed official in Ukraine's Donetsk region earlier said "pockets of resistance" remained in Soledar, undermining claims that the town had been captured.

Zelenskiy thanked two Ukrainian units in Soledar which he said "are holding their positions and inflicting significant losses on the enemy." He did not give more details.

Zelenskiy also said he had met senior Ukrainian commanders on Thursday and analyzed in detail what reinforcements were needed in the fight for Soledar and nearby towns and what steps should be taken in the coming days.

"We also discussed the situation regarding the supply of weapons and ammunition to the troops and the relevant cooperation with our partners," he continued.

Hundreds of civilians remain trapped in Soledar, Ukraine has said, as bloody fighting continues over control of the largely destroyed salt mining town in eastern Ukraine.

Pavlo Kyrylenko, the governor of Donetsk, told Ukrainian state TV that 559 civilians remained in Soledar, including 15 children, and could not be evacuated.

“Fighting is fierce in the Soledar direction. [The Russians] are moving over their own corpses,” Ukraine’s deputy defence minister, Hanna Maliar, said, The Guardian reported.

“Russia is driving its own people to the slaughter by the thousands, but we are holding on.”

Yevgeny Prigozhin, the head of the Wagner mercenary group, said on Wednesday his troops had captured Soledar after intense fighting, and that the town was “littered with Ukrainian servicemen”.

But the Kremlin has so far declined to declare victory in Soledar.

When asked about Prigozhin’s victory claims, Vladimir Putin’s spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, told journalists: “Let’s not rush, let’s wait for official statements. There is a positive dynamic in progress.”

The capture of Soledar would signify Moscow’s first significant gain in half a year.

In its daily military briefing on Thursday, the Russian defence ministry did not mention developments surrounding Soledar.

Russian forces have recently focused their efforts on the capture of Soledar as part of their ambition to take the nearby strategic city of Bakhmut and Ukraine’s larger eastern Donbas region, leading to fierce battles in sub-zero temperatures over the past five days.

Drone footage released by Ukraine this week revealed some of the destruction inflicted on Soledar after months of fighting, with bomb craters scarring the landscape. (rt gu)