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(Bloomberg) — Ukraine pushed back on Russia’s claim that Kremlin forces have taken control of Kostiantynivka, a strategic logistics center in the Donetsk region, saying the heavily bombarded city remains under Ukrainian command. 

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Russian President Vladimir Putin’s statement about the alleged occupation of Kostiantynivka by Russian troops “is not true,” said Andriy Kovalyov, a spokesperson for Ukraine’s General Staff, told the RBC-Ukraine news agency. Ukrainian troops continue defensive operations in the city, he said, adding that the situation remains “challenging.” 

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Putin said late Friday that his forces had captured the city, a road and rail hub in the Donetsk region and one of the main Ukrainian strongholds remaining in the eastern part of the country. Speaking at a meeting with military leadership, Putin also said that Russia now fully controls Ukraine’s Luhansk region. 

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The Russian leader’s claim was “contrary to all available evidence of the true extent of Russian advances in the city,” the Institute for the Study of War, a US-based military think-tank, said in a daily update. In holding an infrequent meeting with his commanders, Putin may have been keen to influence Western media coverage over the war over the July 4 holiday weekend in the US, ISW said. 

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Kostiantynivka had a pre-war population of about 67,000 which has dwindled to about 2,800, according to regional officials, the face of constant Russian offensives. 

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Russian battlefield claims have at times proved premature over the course of its invasion of Ukraine, now well into a fifth year. Ukraine’s Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi said in mid-June that Russian forces were keeping up constant pressure around Kostiantynivka, leveraging a manpower advantage and showing little regard for their own casualties. 

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Kremlin forces already controlled more than 99% of the Luhansk region before Putin’s remarks, to ISW. 

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Putin’s meeting with military commanders came as fighting has intensified in recent months. On Friday, Kyiv observed a day of mourning for the victims of a large-scale Russian missile and drone attack on July 2 that killed at least 30 people and wounded about 100 others. 

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Ukraine has increasingly targeted sites, especially in the energy industry, deep inside Russia with long-range drones and missiles, striking targets more than 2,000 kilometers (1,240 miles) from its border, including in Western Siberia. The attacks have damaged many refineries, causing gasoline shortages in Russia.

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Russia hasn’t yet been able to fully prevent Ukrainian drone incursions far into its territory, Colonel General Yevgeny Nikiforov, commander of Russia’s Northern military grouping, told Putin on Friday. Putin called for expanding what Russia describes as a security buffer zone inside Ukraine’s Sumy and Kharkiv regions, saying Kyiv continued to target civilian infrastructure inside Russia.

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“The more strikes the enemy attempts to carry out against our civilian facilities, the larger the security zone we will have to create on adjacent territory,” Putin said. He also described the border areas as “historically Russian land,” reiterating Moscow’s long-standing claim to territories beyond those it currently controls. 

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(Updates with Ukraine denial, ISW comments from first paragraph.)

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