Zelenskiy denies Russian capture of key Ukrainian city

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and the General Staff say Ukraine still controls the strategically important eastern city of Kostiantynivka, rejecting Russian claims that the city has been captured.

Russia’s military told President Vladimir Putin on Friday that it had taken control of Kostiantynivka, a long-sought target in Russian forces’ advance in the Donetsk region.

Zelenskiy told X: “Of course this is not true. This is just another Russian lie, an attempt to produce some kind of news.”

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

The General Staff also said that Kostiantynivka remained under the control of Ukrainian forces.

“Military units and subunits of the 19th Army Corps in the Eastern Group continue to conduct defensive operations on designated lines within the town and on the approaches to the town,” the statement said.

Kostiantynivka, which once had a population of 67,000, is the southernmost of four important settlements that form the defensive line at the center of Ukraine’s effort to hold the heavily industrialized Donetsk region.

Analysts say capturing the city would give Russian forces a foothold from which to advance northward along the defensive belt, which is now the main axis of their campaign.

The Russian military has reported for some time that it has maintained control of parts of Kostiantynivka, one of several heavily fortified cities that make up Ukraine’s so-called “fortress belt” in Donetsk.

Besides Kostiantynivka, five villages in eastern Ukraine were captured: Shyikivka, Novyi Myr, Cherneshchyna and Druzhelyubivka in the Kharkiv region, and Vasylivka in the Donetsk region, Russia’s defense ministry said on Saturday.

Reuters was unable to confirm the battlefield reports.

with DPA