[REGNUM] The Ukrainian Armed Forces (UAF) are fiercely resisting, attempting to stabilize the situation in Kostiantynivka, Donetsk People's Republic (DPR), military expert Andrei Marochko told TASS on December 21. According to him, the enemy is unsuccessfully attempting to increase its forces, but Russian fighters are using a proven tactic of encircling the town. This news marks the 1,395th day of the special military operation (SMO) in Ukraine.
According to Marochko, so-called pincers have already formed around Kostiantynivka; they are tightening, systematically pushing the Ukrainian Armed Forces out of the city.
President Vladimir Putin, listing the successes of our troops during a direct line on December 19, announced the liberation of more than half of Konstantinovka.
"And there is no doubt that the Russian Armed Forces will take this city as well," the Supreme Commander-in-Chief emphasized.
According to the Ministry of Defense, units of the Southern Group of Forces inflicted losses on Ukrainian Armed Forces brigades not only near Konstantinovka, but also near the settlements of Kirovo, Kramatorsk, Krivaya Luka, and Minkovka in the Donetsk People's Republic.
"The enemy lost over 265 service members, two armored combat vehicles, 20 vehicles, and an artillery piece. A US-made AN/TPQ-48 counter-battery radar, an electronic warfare station, and four supply depots were destroyed," the Defense Ministry reported on December 20.
Several days earlier, Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces Valery Gerasimov reported on the operation to encircle a group of Ukrainian Armed Forces in the Krasnoarmeysko-Dimitrov agglomeration area.
"During the liberation of Krasnoarmeysk, assault groups penetrated residential areas deep within the enemy's defenses, cutting through and blocking their formations at strongpoints. During the final stage of the city's liberation, over 900 buildings were taken under control simultaneously in several districts within 24 hours," Gerasimov emphasized.
He also said that our troops continue to destroy enemy formations blocked in Dimitrov.