As with previous such sieges, in #Konstantinivka right now we’re facing a classic #Russia #Ukraine there and back “we took it, no you didn’t”.

Russians always declare capture of towns or villages “on credit”, that is long before they actually control it, which often leads to ridiculing themselves, as it was with #Kupyansk and #MalaTokmachka.

But military experts have long predicted that Konstantinivka will fall, because Russians concentrated all their forces there and Ukraine abandoned the old “fortress Bakhmut” tactics which as it led to high losses of the defenders.

Under the “active defense” tactics, fall of Konstantinivka is planned, it is only matter of losses ratio curve going beyond Ukraine’s acceptable threshold. At that point ZSU will retreat… and move to another defense line behind Konstantinivka, as they did when #Pokrovsk fell.

And the defense lines around the Slavyansk-Kramatorsk agglomeration are probably the most dense and best prepared in the whole war.

That’s what military experts from both Ukraine and Russia write, the latter pointing out that “liberation” of the towns may take another few years at an insane human cost to Russia. And I think that’s the very point of Ukraine’s tactics here.