The Ukrainian armed forces have admitted that the Russian army has entered the Dnipropetrovsk region and is trying to consolidate its positions, but further advance has been halted, writes the British broadcaster BBC.
The head of the Dnipro Operational Strategic Group, Viktor Trebukhov, told the BBC that this was the first such large-scale invasion of the Dnipropetrovsk region, but made it clear that the attack had been stopped.
Russia has been talking about entering the region all summer. In early June, Russian officials reported that an attack had begun in Dnipropetrovsk, although the latest information from the Ukrainian side indicates that the Russians barely managed to break through the region’s border. Any Russian success in Dnipropetrovsk would undermine Ukrainian morale at a time when, despite US President Donald Trump and Russian dictator Vladimir Putin meeting in Alaska, peace talks are stalling. An assessment by Ukraine’s Deep State mapping project suggests that the Russians now control two villages on the border of the region. The Ukrainian military leadership denies this, saying one village remains under Ukrainian control while the other is under active military operations.
Moscow has not demanded to give up Dnipropetrovsk,
but it has carried out attacks on the region’s major cities, including the regional capital, Dnipro. Before the war, the region had a population of about three million and was the second-largest industrial center after Donbas, which is made up of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions.
Putin reportedly told Trump that he could end the war if Ukraine surrendered all of Donetsk, but many Ukrainians believe the Russians have other plans.
The deputy head of the Ukrainian presidential administration, Colonel Pavlo Palis, warned US journalists in June that the Kremlin wants to occupy all the territory east of the Dnieper River, which divides Ukraine in half.
The European Union’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs, Kaja Kallas, has also said that giving up Ukrainian territory to the Russians is a trap. She told the BBC that everyone has forgotten that Russia has not given up anything, and that is precisely what makes it the aggressor in this case.
Although there was talk after the Trump-Putin meeting that a bilateral meeting between Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky could take place, it is no longer being discussed. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov indicated in an interview with the American media that nothing is ready and there will be no meeting.
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