Ukrainian Forces Continue to Lose Ground at the Front.

“On the ground, Russian troops are steadily advancing.

 

“We are losing Kostiantynivka,” says Roman Pohorelyi, a Ukrainian analyst with the DeepState group. One of the four towns in the Donetsk region still controlled by the Ukrainian army has turned into a massive battlefield.

 

Ukrainian soldiers fighting there describe all of Kostiantynivka as a “gray zone”—territory not fully controlled by either side. “They are infiltrating areas behind our lines; dislodging them during street fighting is extremely difficult,” a Ukrainian drone operator in the area tells the BBC.

 

The Ukrainian command has not admitted to losing control of the town, reporting only that over a hundred Russian soldiers have infiltrated it. However, no one knows the true number, as there is no way to count them.

 

The fall of Kostiantynivka would open a path for the Russians to the Sloviansk-Kramatorsk urban area—the last part of the Donetsk region held by Ukraine—and allow them to breach the defensive line separating the Donbas from the rest of the country.

 

Civilian evacuations are currently underway in that urban area.

 

However, Ukraine has no way to retake it. Following Russia’s lead, Kyiv has begun a major recruitment drive for foreign nationals to join its army, which is facing a troop shortage. Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov believes that foreign troops should make up as much as 40 percent of the force in the units, which means that roughly that many soldiers are currently missing. As a result, the Ukrainian army is unable to hold Kostiantynivka.”

And the rest of the Donbas.