Ukraine denied Saturday Moscow’s announcement that Russian forces had captured the strategic Ukrainian city of Kostyantynivka, a stronghold for Kyiv’s troops in the eastern Donetsk region and a key target for the Kremlin.<\/p>\n
A Ukrainian army spokesman told AFP the city remained under its control, while President Volodymyr Zelensky dismissed Moscow’s announcement as “a lie”, with the duelling claims coming after Russia also said Ukrainian drones had struck its second city, St Petersburg.<\/p>\n
“The situation remains difficult,” Ukrainian army spokesman Andriy Kovalyov told AFP, but Kostyantynivka “is under the control of the Ukrainian Defence Forces”.<\/p>\n
On Friday, Russian President Vladimir Putin, wearing a military uniform, had thanked troops for seizing Kostyantynivka, a town with a pre-war population of 78,000 that Moscow has been trying to take control over for months.<\/p>\n
The army has been sending in small groups of soldiers to infiltrate and secure positions, a method previously used to capture the Ukrainian city of Pokrovsk in late 2025.<\/p>\n
Kostyantynivka is one of the final obstacles on the route to the major Ukrainian-held cities of Kramatorsk and Sloviansk; capturing them is the Kremlin’s ultimate goal in the Donbas.<\/p>\n
Kovalyov said on Saturday that “Ukrainian defenders continue to hold their positions along the designated defensive lines.”<\/p>\n
He admitted that small groups of Russian troops have been infiltrating the town but insisted that fighting was ongoing.<\/p>\n
Moscow’s defence ministry, however, said: “Russian troops are in all parts of the town – from the southern to northern outskirts.”<\/p>\n
Zelensky called the claim “just another Russian lie.”<\/p>\n
“If Kostyantynivka 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 leader said on social media.<\/p>\n
Putin has repeatedly turned down talks with Zelensky to end more than four years of war, saying Moscow intends to capture the rest of eastern Ukraine by force.<\/p>\n
Also on Saturday, Russia’s defence ministry proposed Kyiv halt shelling in Kostyantynivka on Monday between 0900 and 1500 GMT to carry out a “humanitarian” operation to hand over “the bodies of killed Ukrainian soldiers”.<\/p>\n
St Petersburg hit<\/p>\n
The claims came as Russia said Saturday Ukrainian drones<\/a> hit an oil terminal in Saint Petersburg, Putin’s hometown, as well as striking a port near Finland and falling on the historical Peterhof complex without causing damage.<\/p>\n Moscow vowed to respond, saying it downed almost 500 Ukrainian drones and 10 of Kyiv’s Flamingo missiles overnight.<\/p>\n