Russia announced on Saturday that its forces had seized a village in Ukraine’s central Dnipropetrovsk region, identified as Novomykolaivka.
The Russian Defence Ministry stated that troops had first entered the village at the beginning of July. Novomykolaivka lies near the border with Donetsk, one of the most active fronts in the conflict.
However, the claim remains unverified. AFP reported it could not confirm Moscow’s announcement, while DeepState, an online battlefield map run by Ukrainian analysts, still shows the settlement under Kyiv’s control.
Russian Advances in the Ongoing War
Russian troops, larger in number and better equipped than their Ukrainian counterparts, have been pushing offensives across eastern Ukraine for several months.
By late August, Ukraine confirmed that Russian soldiers had entered the Dnipropetrovsk region for the first time, following Moscow’s earlier claims of territorial gains.
At present, Russia controls roughly 20% of Ukraine’s land. The Kremlin continues to insist that Kyiv withdraw from the eastern Donbas region before any ceasefire, a condition Ukraine has consistently refused.
Though Dnipropetrovsk is not among the five Ukrainian regions Russia has declared as its own—Donetsk, Kherson, Lugansk, Zaporizhzhia, and Crimea—it remains a strategically important front in the war.
Escalating Tensions and Civilian Losses
On Friday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky accused Russian leader Vladimir Putin of seeking to “occupy all of Ukraine,” stressing that Moscow would not stop even if Ukraine surrendered some territory.
The Kremlin, meanwhile, said peace talks remain “on pause” after multiple failed negotiations.
Earlier Saturday, Russian shelling in the Donetsk town of Kostyantynivka killed three civilians, according to local prosecutors.