Russia claims to have pushed into central Ukrainian region for first time

RNZ News

7 hours ago

By
Kosta Gak
and
Catherine Nicholls
, CNN
A Ukrainian tank drives on a road in a village in the Dnipropetrovsk region on 16 March 2025.
Photo:
ROMAN PILIPEY
Subunits from the Russian military's 90th tank division have reached the border of Dnipropetrovsk with the Donetsk region, large parts of which are already under Russian occupation, according to the Russian Ministry of Defence. After this, they continued into Dnipropetrovsk, the defence ministry claimed.
Russia claimed that its forces are for the first time pushing into the central Ukrainian region of Dnipropetrovsk, an area it has been trying to reach for months, in a move that could create new problems for Kyiv's much-stretched forces.
The extent of the advance is unclear, as are Moscow's ambitions for the assault. CNN is unable to verify the battlefield reports, and Ukraine has denied the Russian advance.
Viktor Trehubov, spokesperson for Ukraine's Khortytsia forces, which is in command of the area Moscow alleged it broke through, told CNN that "the Russians are constantly spreading false information that they have entered the Dnipropetrovsk region from the Pokrovsk and Novopavlivka directions, but (in neither place) is this information true."
But if confirmed, the Russian advance would be a setback for Ukrainian forces at a time when peace talks have stalled. Russian forces have also in recent weeks made incremental progress in the northern Sumy region, as well as near Lyman in Donetsk.
The Russian advance would also put further pressure on the Ukrainians' grip on the town of Pokrovsk, a key hub that has been under Russian assault for months. Ukraine's General Staff said Sunday morning that its troops had stopped 65 "offensive" Russian actions in the Pokrovsk direction.
An Institute for the Study of War (ISW) assessment of Russia's offensive campaign found that Russian forces continued their offensive operations in the Pokrovsk direction on Saturday, but did not advance.
Russia now controls just under one-fifth of Ukrainian territory, according to the Ukrainian analysis group Deep State. That includes Crimea and parts of eastern Ukraine that were occupied before Russia's full-scale invasion in February 2022.
Dnipropetrovsk is bordered by three regions that are partially occupied by Russia - Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia.
One of Russia's declared goals is capturing all three regions. It already occupies all but a slither of a fourth region, Luhansk.
Dnipropetrovsk is more sparsely populated and rural than those four regions, known as the Donbas, and will be more difficult to defend. It is an important mining and logistics centre and had an estimated population of three million before the war began.
Russia's claim comes days after its forces advanced further in the northern Sumy region, bringing the region's capital within range of drones and artillery.
While capturing the region's capital city, also named Sumy, is likely beyond what Moscow is setting out to do, the move underlines the pressure Kyiv is under, from the northern border to the Black Sea.
The conflict has intensified in recent weeks. Ukraine conducted an audacious drone attack that took out multiple aircraft inside Russia last Sunday, as well as a strike on the bridge connecting Russia to the annexed Crimean peninsula using underwater explosives on Monday.
Russian forces have also advanced further into Ukraine, attempting to grab territory quickly as peace talks between the warring countries continue.
Delegations representing Kyiv and Moscow met in Istanbul on Monday for a second round of peace negotiations, but there were no major breakthroughs, with talks lasting a little over an hour.
Critics have accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of dragging out peace negotiations so that his country can grab more Ukrainian land.
Despite his insistence that he wants an end to the fighting, Putin has refused to agree to an unconditional 30-day ceasefire, instead proposing a much narrower ceasefire, lasting just two or three days in certain parts of the frontline.
US President Donald Trump has repeatedly told Russia and Ukraine there will be consequences if they don't engage in his peace process, although he has so far resisted growing calls from both Republican and Democratic lawmakers to use sanctions to pressure Putin into winding down his war.
On Thursday, Trump compared the warring states to children fighting, telling reporters: "Sometimes you see two young children fighting like crazy. They hate each other, and they're fighting in a park, and you try and pull them apart. They don't want to be pulled. Sometimes you're better off letting them fight for a while and then pulling them apart."
He said that only he would know when the right time to apply sanctions on Russia would be, even suggesting he'd be willing to use new punitive measures on Ukraine if the war doesn't end.
"We'll be very, very, very tough, and it could be on both countries to be honest," Trump said. "You know, it takes two to tango."
-CNN