Ukrainian setback after PR coup: “Extremely painful news”
Propagandan – i striden om nyckelstaden
In a PR video, soldiers raise the Ukrainian flag and claim that the key city has been taken back from Russian control.
– Everything will be fine, says one of them.
The following day, the same soldiers were either captured or dead.
The industrial city of Kostiantynivka, in eastern Ukraine, is a key city in the war between Ukraine and Russia.
On repeated occasions, most recently on July 4, the Kremlin claimed that Russian forces had taken the city.
“The city is now completely under our control,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
At the same time, Russian President Vladimir Putin appeared in a television segment thanking Russian soldiers for the alleged capture and making a big deal about the city being of “great strategic importance.”
“Everything will become Ukraine”
This past weekend, it was Ukraine’s turn to assert control of Kostiantynivka.
In a video posted on Telegram by the Skelia unit on Saturday, a force hoists the Ukrainian flag – along with images of President Volodymyr Zelensky and recently fired military chief Oleksandr Syrskyj – in the city’s cultural center.
The video claims that the city has been cleared of Russian troops and that it is now under the full control of Ukrainian armed forces, reports the Kyiv Independent.
“We have returned the flag to its rightful place. Everything will be fine. Everything will become Ukraine,” says one of the three soldiers in the video.
Two of these soldiers have since been captured – and the video has been removed.
The action of raising the Ukrainian flag in the city is criticized as a deadly “PR coup” in Ukraine. Photo: Skelia Assault Regiment/Telegram
Russia’s counterattack – the day after
On Sunday, the Russian Defense Ministry released a video showing two Ukrainian soldiers in the same cultural center. According to the Kyiv Independent, these are the same soldiers who fronted Ukraine’s video the day before.
The newspaper reports that the soldiers in this video confirm that they are from the Skelia unit, admit that the city is in fact under Russian control and say that their comrades were killed during the operation.
The Ukrainian Skelia unit also confirmed to the Kyiv Independent on Monday that the soldiers shown in the Russian video are their soldiers and describes the capture as “extremely painful news”.
However, the fact that the city is under Russian control is still denied.
“The display of Ukrainian prisoners of war does not indicate either the capture of Kostiantynivka or the defeat of the regiment,” reads an official statement from Skelia.
However, the Ukrainian military claims that there are currently 145 Russian soldiers remaining in the city.
Two dismissed – in one week
In Ukraine, the flag-raising in the city has been described as a “PR coup” that risked the lives of the soldiers involved.
The Skelia unit is close to Oleksandr Syrskyj, who, during his time as the country’s commander-in-chief, shaped it into a specialized assault unit.
The failed PR coup comes during a turbulent week for Ukraine.
Last Thursday, July 16, Ukraine’s Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov was forced to resign – leading to major protests.
And on Tuesday, July 21, it was Syrskyj’s turn to be fired. Fedorov has previously criticized Syrsky's leadership style, which he described as "old-fashioned" and "Soviet."
High-ranking military officer Mykhailo Drapaty is now taking over the role of leading Ukraine's armed forces.
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