Russia Says Pushing Offensive Into Ukraine’s Dnipropetrovsk Region
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Russia Says Pushing Offensive Into Ukraine’s Dnipropetrovsk Region
Russia says it is pushing into Ukraine’s eastern industrial Dnipropetrovsk region. It is a significant territorial escalation amid stalled peace talks. Moscow has repeatedly refused calls by Ukraine, Europe and U.S. President Donald Trump for a full and unconditional ceasefire. The advance of Russian forces into yet another region of Ukraine is both a symbolic and strategic blow to Kyiv’s forces.
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Russia’s Defense Ministry said forces from a tank unit had “reached the western border of the Donetsk People’s Republic and are continuing to develop an offensive in the Dnipropetrovsk region.” The advance of Russian forces into yet another region of Ukraine is both a symbolic and strategic blow to Kyiv’s forces after months of setbacks on the battlefield. There was no immediate response from Ukraine to Russia’s statement. Moscow in 2022 said it was annexing the frontline Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia regions, which it did not have full control over. In 2014, it seized the Crimean peninsula following a pro-EU revolution in Kyiv. In a set of peace demands issued to Ukraine at the latest talks, it demanded formal recognition that these regions were part of Russia — something Kyiv has repeatedly ruled out.
Strategic setback
Russia says pushing offensive into Ukraine’s Dnipropetrovsk region
Russia said on Sunday (June 8, 2025) it was pushing into Ukraine’s eastern Dnipropetrovsk region for the first time in its three-year offensive. The advance of Russian forces into yet another region of Ukraine is both a symbolic and strategic blow to Kyiv’s forces. There was no immediate response from Ukraine to Russia’s statement.
Moscow claims to have annexed five regions of Ukraine, but has not made a formal claim over Dnipropetrovsk.
The Defence Ministry said forces from a tank unit had “reached the western border of the Donetsk People’s Republic and are continuing to develop an offensive in the Dnipropetrovsk region.”
The advance of Russian forces into yet another region of Ukraine is both a symbolic and strategic blow to Kyiv’s forces afer months of setbacks on the battlefield.
There was no immediate response from Ukraine to Russia’s statement.
In more than a decade of conflict with Kremlin-backed separatists and the Russian army, Ukraine has never had to fight on the territory of the central region until now.
Dnipropetrovsk is an important mining and industrial hub for Ukraine and deeper Russian advances into the region could have a serious knock-on effect for Kyiv’s struggling military and economy.
It was estimated to have a population of around three million people before Russia launched its offensive. Around one million people lived in the regional capital, Dnipro.
Ukrainian military personnel previously told AFP that Russia could advance relatively quickly in the largely flat region, given there are fewer natural obstacles or villages that could be used as defensive positions by Kyiv’s forces.