Russian President Vladimir Putin announced the capture of Kostyantynivka, a strategic city in Ukraine's Donetsk region. Russia's defense ministry said its forces took control of the front-line industrial city, part of broader territorial claims in eastern Ukraine.
Russia claimed it seized 11 Ukrainian towns in the region. The announcements came as Putin visited battlefields and pledged to take more Ukrainian territory, dismissing Ukraine's recent military achievements and calling its leaders play actors.