Zelenskyy invites Putin to meeting in “occupied” Kostiantynivka

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he is offering Vladimir Putin the chance to hold a bilateral meeting in Kostiantynivka, a town in Donetsk Oblast that Russia has claimed is occupied.

Zelenskyy said Putin’s claim that Russian forces had captured Kostiantynivka is false and described it as another attempt to push a narrative to the world and to the U.S. He argued that if the city truly were under Russian control, Putin would have no problem meeting there to pursue diplomatic steps to end the war. Zelenskyy added that Putin will not cross the front line, saying reality differs from what he is presenting publicly. The article also notes that Ukraine’s General Staff denied reports of Kostiantynivka being occupied, and that Ukrainian military analysts reportedly show Russian forces operating near the outskirts rather than holding the town outright.