Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Sunday that fighting was still ongoing in Kostyantynivka, although the Kremlin earlier announced it had captured the strategic town in eastern Ukraine.

Published on: 05/07/2026 - 22:50

Volodymyr Zelensky said on Sunday July 5 that fighting continued in the town of Kostyantynivka, in the Donetsk region of Ukraine where the Kremlin announced the capture.

“The fighting continues for Kostyantynivka, which (Russian President Vladimir) Putin has already claimed as his own, but it is obvious that he will never dare to show himself there,” Volodymyr Zelensky said in his daily address.

Moscow assured during the week that it had taken this city, located on the road leading to important hotspots in the Donetsk region, but kyiv denied this assertion by calling it a "lie", ensuring that it was still defending the city, which had some 78,000 inhabitants before the large-scale Russian invasion of 2022.

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Volodymyr Zelensky also warned that Russia was preparing new large-scale attacks in the run-up to this week's NATO summit in Turkey, where he is expected to speak with US President Donald Trump about the war.

“Intelligence services again have information that the Russians are preparing a new massive strike,” the Ukrainian president said.

“We must put pressure on Russia so that there is peace”

This week, Volodymyr Zelensky warned of an imminent Russian strike on kyiv, and hours later, Moscow struck the Ukrainian capital, killing 30 people.

Volodymyr Zelensky also said that Ukrainian strikes against Russia - which have reached as far as the Urals in recent months - "are producing results every day".

The intensification of kyiv's strikes against Russia, particularly targeting Russian oil and fuel depots, has disrupted daily life in Russia.

“We must exert pressure on Russia so that there is peace,” Volodymyr Zelensky said, adding that kyiv had presented its proposals and now expected that “in the coming months the conditions for a worthy peace will come closer, either by force or by diplomacy.”

At least four people were killed in Russian drone and missile strikes in Ukraine on Sunday.

Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the most serious conflict in Europe since World War II, has been going on for almost four and a half years.

Also readWar in Ukraine: why strategic bombings overshadow the front line

With AFP

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