Ukraine confirms Russian forces have crossed into Dnipropetrovsk region

Russian forces have captured two villages in Ukraine’s Dnipropetrovsk region, as Kyiv struggles to repel advances during stalled peace negotiations, Ukrainian open-source researchers said on Tuesday.

Russia has taken control of the villages of Zaporizke and Novoheorhiivka in southeastern Dnipropetrovsk, according to DeepState, which monitors battlefield developments. Moscow’s defence ministry had earlier confirmed the captures.

Ukraine’s military, however, dismissed reports of full occupation as false.

“Russians have entered (there) and are attempting to establish a foothold,” Ukrainian military spokesperson Viktor Trehubov told Reuters. “Our forces are fighting to maintain their positions.”

Russian troops had first reported taking a village in Dnipropetrovsk in July, a region that is not officially claimed by Moscow among the five Ukrainian territories it asserts as its own.

DeepState mapping also indicates at least two other villages in Dnipropetrovsk are sites of ongoing fighting, representing a small fraction of the region’s 31,000 square kilometres.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy previously downplayed Russia’s push, describing it as an effort to achieve a “media victory” rather than a strategic gain.

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