Russia has declared another victory - this time the city of Kostyantynivka in eastern Ukraine. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov was categorical: "Kostyantynivka is fully captured. The city is now completely under our control." Vladimir Putin appeared on television in a military uniform, thanked the troops, and the Defence Ministry released a dozen clips showing Russian flags around the city.

Except that Ukraine says no. Kyiv disputes the Russian claim, and that immediately raises a question everyone in the Balkans knows well: how much is a victory declared in front of a camera worth? A clip of a flag on some rooftop is not the same as control of a city. When one side pushes out a dozen videos about a single event, that is rarely a sign of confidence - more often it is a sign that the image has to convince where the facts have not yet settled.

Still, geography is unforgiving. Kostyantynivka - a city that before the war had around 78,000 residents - is a gateway to two bigger Kremlin targets in the Donbas: Kramatorsk and Sloviansk. The battle for it began in late 2025 and has dragged on for months. The Russians already control the entire Luhansk region, have reached just 9 kilometres from Zaporizhzhia and around ten from Sumy. Each of those kilometres was paid for with something no television address shows.

That is the part that vanishes from both sides' official statements - the human cost. The Russian commander speaks of "search and destroy operations" against isolated Ukrainian soldiers in the cellars and the rubble, as if it were a clean-up, not people. For us in the Balkans, who remember our own wars, these statements sound familiar to the point of discomfort: everyone takes a city, no one counts the graves. And the city - whoever holds the flag tomorrow - is already a ruin.