MOSCOW, July 5 -- Russian forces will take every remaining fortified position held by the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the Donetsk People's Republic, Kremlin aide Yury Ushakov said Saturday, framing Konstantinovka's fall as the beginning of a decisive phase rather than an endpoint.

"Establishing control over such a key stronghold of the Ukrainian Armed Forces as Konstantinovka was an important stage in the liberation of the entire territory of the DPR," Ushakov told reporters. "No matter how much the Kiev regime clings to the remaining fortified areas, our army will definitely take them."

Russian Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov had reported to Putin on Friday that Russian forces fully liberated Konstantinovka. Putin called it "...