Ukrainian officials have acknowledged that Russian forces attempted to cross into the eastern industrial region of Dnipropetrovsk but insist the advance has been halted.
“This is the first attack of such scale in the Dnipropetrovsk region,” Viktor Trehubov of the Dnipro Operational-Strategic Group of Troops told the BBC, emphasizing that Russian troops had failed to secure a foothold.
Russia has long claimed it has entered the area as part of its push beyond Donetsk. In early June, Moscow announced an offensive in Dnipropetrovsk, but Ukrainian reports suggest Russian forces have barely crossed the regional border.
The Ukrainian DeepState mapping project assessed this week that two villages, Zaporizke and Novohryhorivka, had been occupied. Ukraine’s general staff rejected that claim, saying Zaporizke remained under its control and that heavy fighting was still under way near Novohryhorivka.
Any confirmed Russian advance into Dnipropetrovsk—a region of more than three million people and Ukraine’s second-largest industrial hub after Donbas—would be a symbolic and strategic blow. The region’s capital, Dnipro, has already faced repeated missile strikes.
The clashes come as US-led diplomacy shows little sign of progress. Despite a high-profile meeting between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin in Alaska, talks on a possible peace framework have stalled. EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas warned that conceding Ukrainian territory would be “a trap,” while German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said it was now Moscow’s responsibility to show seriousness about ending the war.
Meanwhile, Ukraine has slightly eased travel restrictions on men aged 18 to 22, who are not subject to military conscription. Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko said the change would help young Ukrainians maintain ties with their homeland, even as millions of Ukrainian men remain abroad.
Image: Russian ministry of defense
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