Russian troops are slowly advancing towards the town of Kostyantinivka in eastern Ukraine’s Donetsk region, trying to establish a foothold near an area where there are strong defenses, a senior Ukrainian military official said today.
Kostyanivka along with other towns form what is called a fortified zone in eastern Ukraine — an area that is well fortified by the Ukrainian military.
“We are repelling persistent attempts by the Russian occupation force to gain a foothold on the outskirts of Kostyantinivka using infiltration tactics. Measures against sabotage are underway in the city,” Oleksandr Shirsky, head of Ukraine’s armed forces, told the Telegram app.
Ukrainian battlefield maps program called DeepState shows that Russian troops have taken control of an area just a kilometre from the southern outskirts of the city.
Small parts of Kostyantinivka in the southeast are marked as a grey zone, meaning neither Ukraine nor Russia have full control over them.
Russia’s defence ministry said on Wednesday, April 29, that its forces had taken control of Novodmytrivka, north of Kostyantinivka. The head of the Russian general staff, Valery Gerasimov, said in April that troops were advancing north and south of the city.
Shirsky said Russian offensive efforts have increased significantly in April. Since Monday, Russian troops have launched 83 attacks in the area using small infantry groups, he added.
Russia is demanding that Ukraine withdraw from areas it controls in the Donetsk region and the neighbouring Luhansk region that it failed to seize in the full-scale war it launched four years ago. U.S.-brokered talks have stalled on the issue, as Ukrainian officials say Kiev will not cede territory still under its control.
In the past few years, Russian troops have failed to capture any major cities in Ukraine, moving slowly and occupying small settlements, mostly in eastern Ukraine.
The small town of Pokrovsk, most of its 60,000 pre-war residents gone, was Moscow’s most significant territorial gain last year. Russian troops took months to advance there, and Kiev says it still holds some positions in the town.
