Russian forces have infiltrated Kostiantynivka in Donetsk Oblast, with intense urban fighting underway in the fortress belt city, BBC Ukrainian reports, citing three Ukrainian soldiers. The city is not encircled, the soldiers said, but the situation is significantly more complex than Ukrainian command officially admits, with the city effectively reduced to a continuous "gray zone" where neither side has full control.
Brigadier General Oleksandr Bakulin, commander of the 19th Army Corps coordinating defense of the area, has denied that the city is encircled and said Russian forces have not succeeded in that direction.
Bakulin acknowledged that approximately 130 Russian troops are present inside Kostiantynivka. Russian infantry advancing from the south and east have been spotted on the northern outskirts of the city, including near the exit toward Druzhkivka.
Bakulin and soldiers diverge on the city's severity
Bakulin said during the national joint 24/7 newscast on 15 June that the situation in Kostiantynivka is not critical, per Ukrainska Pravda. He estimated that approximately 123 Russian troops are present in the city, with the figure varying by 20 to 30.
"To say that the enemy controls any part of Kostiantynivka at this point would be premature and an exaggeration," Bakulin said.
Soldiers who spoke with the BBC offered a different framing. The situation is not as catastrophic as Russian propaganda claims, the soldiers said, but it is significantly more complex than what the Ukrainian command states officially.
"They go to the rear, and we have to exhaust all our forces to smoke them out of hiding and catch them. In urban conditions, this is much more complex," a drone operator said.
The sources noted that Russian penetration into Kostiantynivka does not mean Russian control, but that such penetrations continue and the enemy is accumulating forces at new positions.
Russians infiltrate from south and east, reach northern outskirts
Russian forces are advancing on Kostiantynivka from the south and east, with infantry already spotted at the northern outskirts near the exit road to Druzhkivka. According to estimates by the Institute for the Study of War (ISW), Russia has concentrated around 11,000 troops in the Kostiantynivka-Druzhkivka tactical area.
Kostiantynivka scenario mirrors the Russian approach at Pokrovsk, where Russian forces infiltrated the city and attempted to divide it into separate sectors to undermine organized defenses and leave Ukrainian infantry at risk of encirclement.
