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KYIV, May 2 (Reuters) – Russian troops are inching toward the city of Kostiantynivka in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region, trying to establish a foothold close to a heavily defended area, \u200cUkraine’s top army official said on Saturday.<\/p>\n
Kostiantynivka, along with other cities, forms a so-called fortress \u200cbelt in the country’s east – an area well fortified by the Ukrainian military.<\/p>\n
“We are repelling the Russian occupiers’ persistent attempts \u200bto gain a foothold in the outskirts of Kostiantynivka using infiltration tactics. Counter-sabotage measures are going on in the city,” Oleksandr Syrskyi, Ukraine’s army chief, said on the Telegram app.<\/p>\n
A Ukrainian battlefield mapping project called DeepState shows that Russian troops control an area around only one kilometre (0.6 mile) from the city’s southern outskirts.<\/p>\n
Small chunks \u200cof Kostiantynivka, in southeast Ukraine, are \u2060marked as a grey zone, meaning neither Ukraine nor Russia has full control over them.<\/p>\n
Russia’s Defence Ministry said on Wednesday its forces had taken control of \u2060Novodmytrivka, just north of Kostiantynivka. Moscow’s top general, Valery Gerasimov, said in April that troops were advancing on the north and south of the city.<\/p>\n
Syrskyi said that Russian offensive attempts had risen noticeably in April. Since Monday, \u200bRussian \u200btroops have carried out 83 assaults in this sector \u200busing small infantry groups, he added.<\/p>\n
Moscow demands \u200cthat Ukraine pull back from areas in the Donetsk and neighbouring Luhansk regions that Russia has failed to capture during its four-year full-scale war. U.S.-brokered peace talks stalled over the issue as Ukrainian officials say Kyiv will not cede land it still controls.<\/p>\n
For the past few years, Russian troops have not managed to capture any big cities in Ukraine, inching forward and announcing the capture of towns and villages.<\/p>\n
The small \u200ccity of Pokrovsk, whose more than 60,000 pre-war population \u200bmostly fled, was the most significant Russian gain in the \u200bpast year. It took Moscow’s troops months to \u200badvance, and Kyiv says it still has some positions in the city.<\/p>\n
On Saturday, \u200cRussia’s Defence Ministry said it had seized \u200bthe village of Myropillia in \u200bUkraine’s northern Sumy region, where Moscow says it wants to establish a buffer zone.<\/p>\n
But the Kursk group of the Ukrainian military, writing on Facebook, dismissed the Russian report as a “complete lie” \u200band said its units controlled the \u200carea.<\/p>\n
Also in Sumy, the regional governor said a Russian air strike near the town \u200bof Krovelets had injured six people, including two in serious condition.<\/p>\n
(Reporting by Yuliia Dysa; \u200bEditing by Keith Weir, Ron Popeski and Ethan Smith)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n