Zelensky rejects Russian claim of capture of Kostiantynivka

KYIV: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and the country’s General Staff said on Saturday that Ukrainian forces still hold the eastern city of Kostiantynivka, dismissing Russia’s assertion that it has taken the strategically important settlement in the Donetsk region.

Russia’s military had told President Vladimir Putin on Friday that its troops had captured Kostiantynivka, a city Moscow has long sought as part of its advance through eastern Ukraine. Zelensky rejected that claim in a post on X and described it as false.

Zelensky said “Of course, that is not true. It is just another Russian lie, an attempt to generate some kind of a news story”.

Referring to Putin, he added “If Kostiantynivka were under Russian control, then perhaps Putin would have no problem meeting me there to find a diplomatic way to finally end this war”

The Ukrainian General Staff also said the city remained under Kyiv’s control. In a statement, it said units of the 19th Army Corps of the Eastern Grouping were continuing defensive operations on assigned positions inside the town and on its approaches.

Kostiantynivka is the southernmost of four major settlements that make up a defensive line central to Ukraine’s effort to retain control of the heavily industrialised Donetsk region. Analysts say that if Russian forces were to seize the city, they would gain a position from which to press north along that defensive belt, which is now the main focus of Moscow’s campaign.

Russia’s military has for some time said it controls parts of Kostiantynivka. The city is one of several heavily fortified urban centres that form what is described as Ukraine’s fortress belt in Donetsk.