Ukraine has confirmed that Russian forces have entered the eastern region of Dnipropetrovsk, marking the first large-scale assault there since the war began.
“This is the first attack of such a large scale in the Dnipropetrovsk region,” Viktor Trehubov of the Dnipro Operational-Strategic Group told the BBC, though he added that Ukrainian troops had managed to stop the advance.
Russia has repeatedly claimed this summer that its forces were already inside the area, pressing from neighboring Donetsk. In early June, Moscow said an offensive was underway, but Ukraine now reports that Russian troops have barely crossed the regional border.
The Ukrainian DeepState mapping project said Tuesday that Russian troops had captured two villages, Zaporizke and Novohryhorivka. Ukraine’s general staff rejected that claim, insisting they still control Zaporizke and that fighting continues near Novohryhorivka.
While Russia has not formally claimed Dnipropetrovsk, its forces have struck major cities there, including the regional capital Dnipro. Before the war, the region had more than three million people and was Ukraine’s second-largest industrial hub after the Donbas.
Despite heavy losses and slow territorial gains, Russia has recently advanced in Donetsk. Earlier this month, a small infantry unit managed a 10-kilometer push beyond Ukrainian defenses near Dobropillia, though that thrust now appears to have stalled.
Diplomatic efforts to end the war show little progress. President Donald Trump met Vladimir Putin in Alaska earlier this summer, followed by talks with Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky in Washington. But by last week, hopes for a breakthrough were fading.
Putin reportedly told Trump he would consider ending the war if Ukraine handed over the parts of Donetsk it still controls. Ukrainian officials, however, believe the Kremlin’s ambitions go much further. Colonel Pavlo Palisa, a senior aide in Kyiv, warned that Russia’s true goal is to seize all Ukrainian territory east of the Dnipro River.
EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas called any deal that gives land to Moscow “a trap.” Speaking to the BBC, she said: “Russia has not made one single concession and they are the aggressor here.”
Meanwhile, Zelensky has pressed Western allies to speed up talks on security guarantees in case of a future deal. On Tuesday, he met Britain’s top military officer, Admiral Sir Tony Radakin, in Kyiv. A spokesman for the UK prime minister said London would be ready to send troops once the fighting ends.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz also backed stronger security commitments, saying they would ensure Ukraine could defend itself in the long run. Merz added that Zelensky is ready to meet Putin directly: “If the Russian president is serious about putting an end to the killing, then he’ll accept the offer.”
For now, Russia’s foreign minister Sergei Lavrov says no summit is planned, insisting the “agenda is not ready at all” and dismissing Western security talks without Moscow as “pointless.”
