Russia is making its first large-scale offensive in the Dnipropetrovsk region, Focus.de reports, commenting on the latest news from the front in Ukraine.
Ukraine admitted yesterday for the first time that Russian troops had entered the Dnipropetrovsk region, where Moscow had claimed to have been advancing since July.
The Ukrainian armed forces confirmed the offensive and said that Russia was trying to consolidate its positions in the region. According to a BBC report, the attack is the first of its kind in the Dnipropetrovsk region.
Before the war, Dnipropetrovsk was home to over three million people, and the region was an important industrial center in Ukraine.
According to DeepState, two villages in the region have been occupied by Russia. The Ukrainian army denies this, saying it controls one of the villages while fighting is ongoing in the other.
Russian President Vladimir Putin is said to have told US President Donald Trump that he would be ready to end the war if Ukraine handed over the remaining parts of Donbas. However, many Ukrainians believe that Russia has very different plans.
EU foreign policy chief Kaia Kallas has warned that a peace deal that would hand over territory to Russia would be a "trap". "Russia has not made a single concession, and they are the aggressors," she said.
The Ukrainian army, outnumbered and outgunned, is struggling to repel a Russian advance across much of the country's east as Moscow increases pressure on Kiev to cede territory as part of any peace talks, AFP reported.
Russia has captured two villages in southeastern Ukraine's Dnipropetrovsk region, Ukrainian researchers have confirmed to publicly available sources, as Kremlin troops continue their offensive amid stalled diplomatic efforts to end the war, Reuters reported.