Russian forces have infiltrated the strategically important city of Kostiantynivka in eastern Ukraine and are trying to encircle it, with the entire area now practically a "gray zone" that no one fully controls, Ukrainian soldiers have said, as reported by the BBC.
Key point for control of Donbas
Kostiantynivka is considered the gateway to the rest of the Donbas region. If the city falls, Russian forces could advance toward the last remaining Ukrainian strongholds in the east, Kramatorsk and Sloviansk, thus moving closer to fully capturing Donbas, one of the Kremlin's key goals in this war.
This Russian advance follows months of stagnation on the front line, during which Ukrainian commanders claimed they had regained more territory than they lost this year while disrupting key Moscow supply lines. Recent Ukrainian strikes on oil refineries in Russia and fuel shortages in Crimea have also sought to divert Russian attention from the conflict.
Conflicting reports on the ground situation
In Kostiantynivka, Russian soldiers have advanced from the south and have also been spotted on the northern outskirts of the city. Moscow claims its forces are rapidly advancing in the southwestern part of the city and have surrounded Ukrainian military units, which Kyiv denies.
Brigadier General Oleksandr Bakulin, the commander responsible for the city's defense, insists that "the situation is under control" and that "the enemy has no success." However, he acknowledges that there are still about 130 Russian soldiers in the city.
Ukrainian soldiers on the ground paint a grimmer picture. "They are getting behind our backs, and in urban conditions it is extremely difficult to drive them out," says a Ukrainian drone pilot operating in the area who wishes to remain anonymous.
A Ukrainian officer from a unit operating inside the city similarly claims that the situation on the ground is far more serious than Ukrainian officials are willing to admit publicly. "We still have cleanup groups and assault groups inside the city, but the Russians are managing to accumulate more and more soldiers there," said the officer, also speaking anonymously.
Urban combat and drone warfare
Every building in Kostiantynivka serves as a potential shelter, and summer trees provide additional cover. This has allowed Russian forces to advance within the "kill zone," where Ukrainian drones can detect any movement. Meanwhile, Russian drone pilots have focused on destroying Ukrainian launch sites to give their infantry a respite.
One Ukrainian drone pilot explained that while his colleagues targeted Russian infantry, the Russians used artillery, multiple rocket launchers, and aviation to destroy Ukrainian drone crews.
"Because we spend little time finding and targeting enemy pilots, they can operate freely, detect our positions, and we are forced to withdraw. That's how the front line shifts," he explains.
Slow but steady progress
A Ukrainian officer whose unit operates in the city says the pace of Russian advance is very slow. "Sometimes they move 100 meters a day. Sometimes they even crawl to get to the next building," he says. Russian forces are using a strategy similar to that used in the capture of Pokrovsk, advancing from the flanks to encircle the city and cut off supply routes. It seems the Kremlin wants to take Kostiantynivka as quickly as possible to divert attention from Ukrainian successes elsewhere.
The situation has escalated into a "major crisis," warns the Ukrainian drone pilot. Supplies have become extremely difficult, and the Ukrainian frontline monitoring project DeepState assesses that the fall of Kostiantynivka is "a matter of time." When that happens, logistics in the area will become significantly more complicated, and staying in Kramatorsk will be "extremely dangerous."
Another Ukrainian soldier fighting in the city said they are not receiving the necessary reinforcements, and commanders are reluctant to report lost positions because they would then be ordered to retake them. "We don't have enough people to hold what we still control, let alone organize attacks," he said.
The drone pilot concludes: "We are still fighting inside the city. But if we don't change our approach and start destroying their logistics and targeting their pilots, they will continue to advance."
