The Kremlin appears to be conducting a targeted information campaign aimed at convincing the West of its claim to have captured Konstantinovka. US President Donald Trump spoke by phone on July 4 with both his Russian and Ukrainian counterparts, Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelensky.
This is according to the "Institute for the Study of War" (ISW).
Russian presidential aide Yuri Ushakov said on July 4 that the United States initiated the phone call between Trump and Putin. The leaders discussed the upcoming NATO summit, the war in Ukraine, and military-political and economic issues.
Trump also spoke with Zelensky about the current situation on the front lines and ongoing diplomatic efforts to end the war.
Putin stressed that Ukraine's European partners have a wrong perception of the front line.
Putin claimed that Russian forces had captured Konstantinovka, which Ushakov highlighted as an important step towards Russia's capture of the rest of Donetsk Oblast. Ushakov said that Russian forces "will definitely" capture the rest of Ukraine's stronghold belt. Deputy Chairman of the Russian Security Council Dmitry Medvedev said on his English-language Telegram channel on July 4 that Konstantinovka was a clear victory for Russia on the battlefield and an important step towards capturing Donbas and achieving Russia's military goals.
However, Russian forces have penetrated Konstantinovka but have not captured it, despite claims by Putin and Medvedev. Kremlin officials routinely exaggerate Russian tactical advances and present false and fabricated evidence as part of a broader cognitive warfare effort to portray Ukraine’s front lines as crumbling—a coordinated information campaign designed to pressure Ukraine and its partners to capitulate to Russia’s demands in negotiations.
The Kremlin likely expected Putin to speak to Trump to congratulate him on Independence Day in the United States, and likely aimed to use the conversation to present Trump with its exaggerated claims of progress and convince him that Russia is winning on the battlefield.
This comes at a time when the Trump administration has increasingly spoken publicly about Ukrainian successes on the battlefield, including against Russian military assets and energy infrastructure, as well as a tactical Ukrainian offensive in several front sectors in the winter and spring of 2026.
Putin and other Kremlin officials are likely deliberately pushing false narratives into the Western media that Russian forces will inevitably take over the rest of the Donetsk region in order to persuade the West to capitulate to demands that Russia cannot provide militarily.
Russia is using a short-term ceasefire proposal that it knows Ukraine will logically reject as part of a cognitive war to portray Ukraine as an unwilling negotiator. The Russian Ministry of Defense (MoD) proposed on July 4 a ceasefire with shelling in Konstantinovka from 12:00 to 18:00 Moscow time on July 6 to allow Russian forces to transfer the bodies of Ukrainian soldiers killed in action to Ukraine.
Russia continues to face increasing challenges in allocating human resources as it struggles to build a robust air defense to protect Russia’s vast rear. The German-based Russian opposition media outlet Echo reported on July 5 that Russian state energy operator "Gazprom" had signed a contract with the Russian Ministry of Defense (MOD) to create mobile fire brigades to protect Russia's gas infrastructure.
Echo reported that soldiers serving in the mobile fire brigades would receive a monthly stipend of 200,000 rubles ($2,598) from "Gazprom" during two months of training, as well as a salary and other payments from the Russian MOD.
The "Gazprom" documents note that the contract for the mobile fire brigade is different from a standard military service contract and allows Russians to keep their civilian jobs during military training.
The document states that the members of the mobile fire group will protect infrastructure only in the region where they signed the contract, and that the contract for the mobile fire group also includes an agreement to serve in the mobilization reserve for three years. The Russian Volunteer Reconnaissance and Assault Brigade "Nevsky" (Russian Volunteer Corps) also announced on July 4 that it was recruiting mobile groups to protect against Ukrainian long-range drone strikes.