Russian army is pushing into Ukraine’s eastern Dneptrotevrosk region for the first time in the three-year war amid the failure of US-brokered peace negotiations.
Russian Defence Ministry said on Sunday its forces from a tank unit had reached the western border of Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region and are continuing to develop an offensive in the Dnipropetrovsk region. There was no official response in Ukraine to Russia’s claim. However, Ukraine’s southern army command confirmed Russia’s attempts to enter Dnipropetrovsk region, while, stressing that Ukrainian “fighters are bravely and professionally holding their section of the frontline."
Russia's deputy chairman of the national security council, Dmitry Medvedev said the fresh advance was a warning to Ukraine. "Those who do not want to recognize the realities of the war at negotiations, will receive new realities on the ground," Medvedv posted on Telegram app.
Being an important industrial region in the east, Dnipropetrovsk is not among five Ukrainian regions - Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Crimea – that Kremlin has publicly claimed to as Russian territory.
During the second round of peace negations in Istanbul on June 2, Moscow set the recognition of these territories as part of Russia as a precondition for reaching a ceasefire. Ukraine said last month that Russia threatened to boost its offensive if Kyiv did not capitulate. Moscow has repeatedly refused to accept the unconditional ceasefire – a key demand of Ukraine and its Western allies.
