Warsaw, 5 April 2023 (dpa/MIA) - Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky says the situation in the embattled eastern town of Bakhmut remains "very, very difficult."

"The largest number of different weapons, such as artillery, are being used there," he said at a press conference with his Polish counterpart Andrzej Duda in Warsaw on Wednesday.

The situation in terms of available ammunition changes daily and Ukrainian troops are fighting with varying degrees of success, he said. "But we are in Bakhmut and the enemy does not control Bakhmut," Zelensky underlined.

The Ukrainian president thus also contradicted recent statements from Moscow. The head of the Wagner mercenary force fighting in Bakhmut, Yevgeny Prigozhin, had claimed that his units had "legally" taken Bakhmut because they controlled the city administration building.

"The more ammunition enters Ukraine, the faster we will clarify the situation not only in Bakhmut, but on the whole territory of our state," Zelensky said.

Bakhmut has been contested since late summer. This year, the fighting has turned into the bloodiest battle of the full-scale Russian invasion, which has lasted more than a year.