{"id":128714,"date":"2026-07-04T17:34:02","date_gmt":"2026-07-04T12:34:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/?p=128714"},"modified":"2026-07-04T17:34:06","modified_gmt":"2026-07-04T12:34:06","slug":"zelensky-denies-russian-capture-of-key-eastern-city-kostiantynivka","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/128714\/","title":{"rendered":"Zelensky denies Russian capture of key eastern city Kostiantynivka"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">(National Times)- Ukraine still controls the strategically important eastern city of\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dawn.com\/news\/2011644\/russia-pounds-on-the-gates-of-ukraines-fortress-belt\">Kostiantynivka<\/a>, President Volodymyr Zelensky and the General Staff said on Saturday, rejecting Russian claims that it has been captured.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Russia\u2019s military told President Vladimir Putin on Friday that its forces had taken control of Kostiantynivka, a target that Moscow has long sought in its advance through the Donetsk region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cOf course, that is not true. It is just another Russian lie, an attempt to generate some kind of a news story,\u201d Zelensky said on X.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cIf Kostiantynivka were under Russian control, then perhaps Putin would have no problem meeting me there to find a diplomatic way to finally end this war,\u201d he added, referring to Russian President Vladimir Putin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The General Staff also said Kostiantynivka remained under the control of Ukrainian forces.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cMilitary units and subunits of the 19th Army Corps of the Eastern Grouping continue to conduct defensive operations on designated lines within the town and on its approaches,\u201d it said in a statement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Kostiantynivka is the southernmost of four key settlements that form a defensive line central to Ukraine\u2019s effort to hold the heavily industrialised Donetsk region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Analysts say capturing Kostiantynivka would give Russian forces a foothold from which to push north along the defensive belt, now the main axis of their campaign.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Russia\u2019s military has for some time reported controlling parts of Kostiantynivka, one of several heavily fortified cities that make up Ukraine\u2019s so-called \u201cfortress belt\u201d in Donetsk.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>(National Times)- Ukraine still controls the strategically important eastern city of\u00a0Kostiantynivka, President Volodymyr Zelensky and the General Staff said on Saturday, rejecting Russian claims that it has been captured. Russia\u2019s military told President Vladimir Putin on Friday that its forces had taken control of Kostiantynivka, a target that Moscow has long sought in its advance [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":128715,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-128714","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-latest_news","entry"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Zelensky denies Russian capture of key eastern city Kostiantynivka - Nation<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/128714\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Zelensky denies Russian capture of key eastern city Kostiantynivka - Nation\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"(National Times)- Ukraine still controls the strategically important eastern city of\u00a0Kostiantynivka, President Volodymyr Zelensky and the General Staff said on Saturday, rejecting Russian claims that it has been captured. Russia\u2019s military told President Vladimir Putin on Friday that its forces had taken control of Kostiantynivka, a target that Moscow has long sought in its advance [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/128714\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Nation\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-07-04T12:34:02+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-07-04T12:34:06+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Untitled-design-13-1.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"670\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"370\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"humza Jahangir\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"humza Jahangir\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/128714\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/128714\/\",\"name\":\"Zelensky denies Russian capture of key eastern city Kostiantynivka - Nation\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/128714\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/128714\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Untitled-design-13-1.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-04T12:34:02+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-07-04T12:34:06+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/#\/schema\/person\/27efa35fa76e99f3ad7e7397d7332c16\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/128714\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/128714\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/128714\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Untitled-design-13-1.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Untitled-design-13-1.png\",\"width\":670,\"height\":370},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/128714\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Zelensky denies Russian capture of key eastern city Kostiantynivka\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/\",\"name\":\"Nation\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/#\/schema\/person\/27efa35fa76e99f3ad7e7397d7332c16\",\"name\":\"humza Jahangir\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/43feedd99bd6a90080d1621b7e6604364acb673ee979d3ffe5075557c14c68b9?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/43feedd99bd6a90080d1621b7e6604364acb673ee979d3ffe5075557c14c68b9?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"humza Jahangir\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/author\/humza\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Zelensky denies Russian capture of key eastern city Kostiantynivka - Nation","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/128714\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Zelensky denies Russian capture of key eastern city Kostiantynivka - Nation","og_description":"(National Times)- Ukraine still controls the strategically important eastern city of\u00a0Kostiantynivka, President Volodymyr Zelensky and the General Staff said on Saturday, rejecting Russian claims that it has been captured. 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