Ukraine has confirmed that Russia’s military has crossed into the eastern Dnipropetrovsk region and is trying to establish a foothold there, but denied Moscow has taken control of two villages.
Moscow has repeatedly claimed that it has entered the area during the last three months as its forces try to push deeper into Ukraine from the Donetsk region.
Ukrainian battlefield analysts DeepState assessed yesterday that Russia now occupies two villages just inside the region, Zaporizke and Novohryhorivka.
This marked the first time the battlefield monitor reported Russia taking control of settlements in Dnipropetrovsk.
However, Ukraine’s armed forces general staff has denied that was the case. The military “continue to control” Zaporizke despite Russia’s best efforts, it said in a statement, and “active hostilities” are ongoing in the area around Novohryhorivka.
Russia’s defence ministry released an image claiming to show Russian troops inside Zaporizke.
Moscow has not laid claim to Dnipropetrovsk, unlike Ukraine’s other eastern regions of Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson, and Crimea, which it illegally annexed in 2014.
Vladimir Putin reportedly wants control of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions – known collectively as the Donbas – as a condition for ending the war.
Russia’s advances into Dnipropetrovsk will no doubt strengthen the Kremlin’s hand for any future peace settlement.
