Sharjah24 - AFP: Despite admitting that Moscow's forces were advancing farther inside the beleaguered town, Ukraine claimed on Tuesday that it had driven Russian forces off the sides of Bakhmut.

The announcement came as European leaders meeting in Iceland agreed to create a "register of damages" to record the wartime harm and destruction wrought by Russia in Ukraine, French President Emmanuel Macron said. It would be an initial step towards prosecution of Russian leaders in the future.

A year after kicking Russia out of the Council of Europe (CoE) over its war in Ukraine, the leaders of the 46-nation pan-continental rights body gathered in Reykjavik, with the Ukraine conflict topping the agenda.

In Kyiv, authorities were due to host a Chinese special envoy to discuss Beijing's proposals for ending the conflict.

Deputy Defence Minister Ganna Malyar said Ukraine had wrested back about 20 square kilometres (7.7 square miles) of a Russian pincer movement around Bakhmut, the epicentre of fighting in Russia's invasion.

"At the same time, the enemy is advancing in some measure inside Bakhmut itself and is completely destroying the town with artillery," she added on social media.

The commander of Ukraine's ground forces, Oleksandr Syrskyi, had earlier said he visited forces near Bakhmut to hand out awards to Kyiv's troops fighting in the longest battle of the invasion.

"Wagner's men went into Bakhmut like rats into a mousetrap," he said, referring to the Russian paramilitary group.

The British defence ministry said that "over the last four days, Ukrainian forces have made tactical progress, stabilising the flanks of Bakhmut to their advantage".

Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin said in a video shared by Russian military bloggers Tuesday that a US volunteer had died fighting alongside Ukrainian troops in the east.

"He came to meet us. Citizen of the United States of America," he says, showing what he claims is the body of an American. It was not clear where or when the video was filmed.