Russian forces are gradually moving closer to the city of Kostiantynivka in the Donetsk region, eastern Ukraine in an effort to establish a foothold near a heavily defended area, Ukrainian Army Commander Oleksandr Syrskyi informed.
Kostiantynivka, along with several other cities, forms a "fortress belt" in the east, an area fortified by the Ukrainian army.
We are pushing back Russia's continuous efforts to gain a foothold in the suburbs of Kostiantynivka with intrusion tactics. Counter- sabotage measures are still being deployed in the city," Ukrainian Army Commander Oleksandr Syrskyi informed on the Telegram application.
Ukraine's DeepState map project shows that Russian soldiers currently control the area only about 1km south of the city of Kostiantynivka.
Some small areas in Kostiantynivka, located in southeastern Ukraine, are marked as "gray zones", meaning that neither Ukraine nor Russia has complete control.
On April 29, the Russian Ministry of Defense said that Russian forces had controlled Novodmytrivka, located just north of Kostiantynivka. Also in April, Russian Chief of General Staff Valery Gerasimov said that the army was attacking from both the north and south of the city.
According to Ukrainian Army Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi, Russian attacks have increased significantly in April. Since the beginning of last week, Russian troops have conducted 83 attacks in this area, mainly by small infantry groups.
Russia demands that Ukraine withdraw from the areas of Donetsk and Lugansk that Russia has not gained during the 4-year conflict.
Russia-Ukraine peace talks have stalled on this issue as Kiev insists it will not concede territories it still controls.
In the past few years, Russian soldiers have not captured any major cities in Ukraine, but have mainly taken small steps and announced control of towns and villages.
The small city of Pokrovsk - which had more than 60,000 people before the fighting - is Russia's most significant step in the past year. Russian soldiers took months to enter Pokrovsk and Ukraine claims to still control some positions there.
On May 2, the Russian Ministry of Defense said it had controlled Myropillia village in the Sumy region of northern Ukraine, where Russia declared its desire to establish a buffer zone.
However, the Kursk operations group of the Ukrainian army informed on Facebook that it denied this information, affirming that the units of this group still control the area.
Also in Sumy, the local governor said that a Russian airstrike near the town of Krovelets injured 6 people, including 2 seriously injured.
