As the world watches Ukrainian drones hurtle into Moscow and St Petersburg, Vladimir Putin is laser-focused on another city.
Moscow’s forces are pushing to seize Kostiantynivka, a pillar in Ukraine’s “fortress belt” in the east that Putin sees as the main obstacle to his goal of conquering the Donetsk region, and wider Donbas around it.
The city has emerged as a central target for the Kremlin just as Donald Trump’s attention returns to Ukraine, with the Putin claiming in a call with the US President that Russia already holds it.
Shorts
The once thriving industrial city of 66,000 is now a wasteland of blackened, gaping buildings, cratered roads littered with burnt-out vehicles and cobwebs of nets hung over highways to protect from drones buzzing overhead.
