Ukrainian military forces have acknowledged that Russia’s military has crossed into the eastern industrial region of Dnipropetrovsk and is trying to establish itself there. The Ukrainian State Mapping Project on Tuesday said that Russia had now occupied two villages in the region, Zaporizke and Novohryhorivka.

“This is the first attack of such a large scale in Dnipropetrovsk,” said Viktor Trehubov of the Dnipro operational strategic group of troops to the international media. However, he also made clear that these advances have stopped.

The Ukrainian Armed Forces General Staff also denied the claim, saying the military continues to control Zaporizke, and also added that “active hostilities are ongoing in the areas of the village of Novohryhorivka.”

Moscow is now putting a claim on Dnipropetrovsk, unlike Donetsk and Ukraine’s four other eastern regions. However, it has attacked its big cities, including the national capital region.

Throughout the summer, Russia has been claiming that it entered the area and its forces are trying to push deeper into Ukrainian territory from the Donetsk side. Early in June, Russian officers said that an offensive had begun in the industrial area. Counter to this, Ukrainian reports suggest that they have barely breached the regional border. Any further Russian advance into the Dnipropetrovsk region would be a blow to Ukrainian morale, especially after the US-led diplomatic effort to end the war appears to have fallen apart despite President Donald Trump meeting Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska.

Before the war started, Dnipropetrovsk had a population of more than 3 million and was Ukraine’s second-biggest centre of heavy industry after Donbas.

Russian Offensive

The Russian forces have made very slow progress in capturing Ukrainian territories and have suffered very high casualties, but they have still made recent gains in Donetsk. For instance, a small infantry group made a sudden 10 km push towards Ukraine’s defensive lines near Dolia earlier this month. However, further information suggests that the offensive has been halted.

Globally, Putin has reportedly told Trump that he is willing to end the war if Ukraine hands over the area of the Donetsk region. However, many still feel that the Russian leader has other plans. After meeting Putin in Alaska and the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Washington, Trump last week began arrangements for a summit between the two leaders. By the end of this week, hopes for a deal hang by a very thin thread.

President Zelenskyy has also urged Western allies to intensify efforts aimed at agreeing on future security guarantees in the deal. He met the head of the British Armed Forces, Admiral Sir Tony Radakin, on Tuesday in Kyiv.