Russia has gained almost complete control of Luhansk, while about 18% of Donetsk remains outside Russian control, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on April 12. The Russian army continues to advance, now focusing on Kostiantynivka; capturing it would open a route toward the last major regional cities, Kramatorsk and Sloviansk.
On a recent visit, a Ukrainian commander known as Lys (Fox) told DW fighting was ongoing on Kostiantynivka’s outskirts. He said Russian troops had infiltrated the city from surrounding forests under cover of fog and were probing the front for weak spots. “After the current series of attacks, they will likely select a specific section of the front and put targeted pressure on it. That has been their standard tactic since last year,” he said.
Lys described Kostiantynivka as “a thorn in the side” of the Russian army. As long as they haven’t broken through there, he said, they cannot advance further. The urban area of Kostiantynivka, Druzhkivka, Kramatorsk and Sloviansk forms a contiguous zone; if Russians make gains at Kostiantynivka, stopping them would be very difficult.
Alongside military pressure, Russia has sought diplomatic concessions in past talks, demanding Ukrainian withdrawal from the entire Donbas. Kyiv has rejected this. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned such a withdrawal could turn the area into a launch pad for further attacks and noted the region contains strong defensive structures; even amid fighting, he said some 200,000 people still live there.
“It’s out of the question” to give up territory for which thousands have died, said Ruslan, a mortar commander defending approaches to Kostiantynivka. Eduard, a battalion chief of staff, agreed: “If we just give it up like that, there will soon be nothing left of the Donetsk region. If Kostiantynivka falls, Kramatorsk is the next target.”
The civilian situation is grim and fluid. Kostiantynivka once held about 70,000 people; evacuation is only possible on foot, along a road now protected by a damaged anti-drone net. A company commander who asked not to be named said he found dead civilians in houses along the route and could not understand why some remained.
In nearby Druzhkivka, many municipal workers still head to work despite the threat. Locals describe daily fear: “Life in the city is scary,” said Ninel. An older man, Vitaliy, said he had no plans to leave: “But where else am I supposed to go? I don’t have long left to live anyway.”
Kramatorsk, though not on the immediate front line, has suffered increasing destruction. On March 29, several aerial bombs killed three people, including a 13-year-old boy, and struck residential areas that had been hit repeatedly. Residents calmly began clearing debris. Olena, whose window had lost its glass, said they would leave if curfews tightened: “That’s how it was in Pokrovsk, Kostiantynivka and then in Druzhkivka. We realize that it will happen to us too.”
Anti-drone protection nets, common along the front, have been extended over roads on Kramatorsk and Sloviansk outskirts. Some Sloviansk neighborhoods are already within range of Russian first-person-view drones; many children have been evacuated. Yet parts of the city remain lively, with cafes open and people out on the streets. “If I had the money, I would leave. It’s hard to watch all this happen,” said Iryna, an elderly woman. “If we were to actually cede this part of the Donbas, it would save many lives — both soldiers and civilians. But imagine giving up this territory. It’s part of Ukraine, after all.”
Sloviansk has also been hit repeatedly; a central hotel was burned after a Shahed drone attack. Vladyslav Samusenko, who had been sleeping in the hotel, survived and now helps evacuate civilians. Before the war he ran a nonprofit for orphans; since the invasion, he has organized evacuations from endangered areas. On March 24 he walked about 8 kilometers to Kostiantynivka to evacuate an elderly couple and described finding many bodies in backyards and streets: “You can smell them when you walk past a house.”
Samusenko said mainly retirees remain in the cities, while some young men stay out of fear of being drafted. “We have too few fighters. Our soldiers are tired, and there are no replacements,” he said, adding that he will continue evacuating civilians as long as they ask for his help.
This article was originally written in Ukrainian.