Putin is betring on seizing Kostyantynivka to shift attention from Crimea. Intensified Ukrainian strikes on Russia’s energy infrastructure threaten to sap his capacity to sustain a long, attritional push in Donbas.

By smashing ferries, fuel depots and key roads feeding Crimea, Kyiv is testing whether it can strangle Russia’s Black Sea stronghold faster than Moscow can rewire its supply…

Kyiv is probing Russia’s weakened defences and testing the reach of Western cruise missiles in a bid to raise the Kremlin’s economic and military costs.