Putin's Kostiantynivka proposal aims to seize city, push toward Kramatorsk, Zelensky says
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Russian President Vladimir Putin has proposed establishing a temporary “humanitarian mission” in the embattled eastern Ukrainian city of Kostiantynivka, which President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Nov. 13 could provide Russian forces with an opportunity to enter and occupy the city.
“It’s an absolutely primitive move, because otherwise he has no way of taking this city,” Zelensky told journalists, suggesting that a ceasefire could allow Russian troops to reposition to more advantageous positions in and around Kostiantynivka.
According to Zelensky, the proposal was passed on to him by U.S. negotiators.
"I explained my position on Kostiantynivka to the American negotiators. The people there are exclusively Ukrainian citizens. And fighting is taking place inside Kostiantynivka," he said.
"They brought me this proposal, and then said: 'Yes, we understand,'" Zelensky added.
Kostiantynivka, located in embattled Donetsk Oblast, remains a major obstacle to Russia's efforts to seize the rest of the region, making control of the settlement both a military and diplomatic priority for Moscow.
Zelensky stressed that Ukraine did everything possible to evacuate civilians from the area.
"If we give up Kostiantynivka, their next steps will be our other cities in Donbas," he said.
Zelensky said that Ukraine had passed the U.S. side a list of seven or eight blockaded settlements where civilians, including children, remain, such as villages near Oleshky, but that Russia did not propose a humanitarian operation for any of them.
"Why? Because after Kostiantynivka come Kramatorsk and Sloviansk," he said.
Putin's proposal, made during a meeting with U.S. special envoys, Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff, in Moscow on Nov. 12, comes as fighting continues inside Kostiantynivka.
Ukraine has rejected Russian claims that Moscow controls Kostiantynivka. The Ukrainian General Staff has said its forces continue operating against Russian infantry groups attempting to infiltrate the town.
Ukrainian presidential adviser Dmytro Lytvyn questioned Moscow's motives, pointing to an earlier Russian-proposed humanitarian operation in Oleshky, in Kherson Oblast, which he said had been used to rotate troops and bring additional personnel into the area under the cover of a temporary ceasefire.
