A Ukrainian assault regiment says it has cleared Kostiantynivka from Russian invaders. Soldiers of the 425th "Skala" (Rock) Separate Assault Regiment reported that they conducted a clearing operation in a city in Donetsk Oblast and that the city is under the control of the Ukrainian army.
The claim is a Ukrainian counter to a Russian one. On 3 July, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov asserted that the city had been fully taken, providing no proof, according to Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.
The unit posted footage of strikes on Russian concentration points and of Ukrainian soldiers with a Ukrainian flag, and addressed President Volodymyr Zelenskyy with a statement that the task was accomplished and the city is "again under the blue-and-yellow flag."
Kostiantynivka is southern gate of Ukraine's "fortress belt"
The city matters because of where it sits. Kostiantynivka lies at the southern end of the chain of cities forming Ukraine's "fortress belt" — its main defensive backbone in Donetsk Oblast, with Druzhkivka, Kramatorsk, and Sloviansk standing farther north.
Capturing that urban belt is central to Putin's goal of occupying all of the Donbas. A Russian victory at Kostiantynivka would let Moscow claim it had forced open the southern gate to the remaining Ukrainian-held cities.
Costly advance
The battle has been grinding and costly. Russia advanced on Kostiantynivka at an average of about 50 meters per day in the period before its capture, according to the Center for Strategic and International Studies cited by RFE/RL, one of the slowest advance rates recorded in modern war.
Ukraine's 19th Army Corps commander reported that Russian groups had infiltrated various parts of the city but controlled none of it, while ISW assessed Russia had concentrated around 11,000 troops in the Kostiantynivka-Druzhkivka area.
While Ukraine keeps repelling Russian attacks on the Donetsk front, Russia may be planning to call up half a million people this fall, Andrii Kovalenko, head of the Center for Countering Disinformation under Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council, says.
Kovalenko adds that some of the mobilized would be thrown into battle within the first two weeks to "plug holes in the East," as others would be trained for at least a month in case a new front opens.
