-Fighting reaches outskirts

Russian troops are inching toward the city of Kostiantynivka in Ukraine's eastern Donetsk region, trying to establish a foothold close to a heavily defended area, Ukraine's top army official said.



Kostiantynivka, along with other cities, forms a so-called fortress belt in the country's east - an area well fortified by the Ukrainian military.



According to top Ukrainian military officials "We are repelling the Russian occupiers' persistent attempts to gain a foothold in the outskirts of Kostiantynivka using infiltration tactics. Counter-sabotage measures are going on in the city."



A Ukrainian battlefield mapping project called DeepState shows that Russian troops control an area around only one kilometre from the city's southern outskirts.



Small chunks of Kostiantynivka, in southeast Ukraine, are marked as a grey zone, meaning neither Ukraine nor Russia has full control over them.