Russia announced on Sunday that its forces had reached the outskirts of Dnipropetrovsk Oblast in eastern Ukraine, marking their first approach to the province since the war began in February 2022.
Analysts describe the move as a significant breakthrough for the Russian military, which continues to gain momentum amid ongoing ceasefire discussions.
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Russian President Vladimir Putin, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky
(Photo: Sergei Bobylev, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo/ AP, AFP PHOTO / Press service of the 24th Mechanized Brigade of Ukrainian Armed Forces)
Russia now controls approximately 20% of Ukrainian territory, and its apparent push into another key oblast represents a serious strategic setback for Kyiv, following months of battlefield losses. The advance toward Dnipropetrovsk follows recent Russian gains in the northern Sumy region, where its troops reportedly captured over 190 square kilometers in less than a month.
Despite mounting international pressure, including from Ukraine and U.S. President Donald Trump, Moscow has refused to accept a ceasefire without preconditions. In recent talks held in Istanbul, Moscow demanded a complete Ukrainian military withdrawal from the front lines, a halt to Western arms shipments and a pledge that Ukraine would not join NATO.
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Russia's Defense Ministry also reported that its tanks have reached the western front of Donetsk Oblast—an area Moscow claims to have annexed—and are now directing attacks toward neighboring Dnipropetrovsk. Local officials in Dnipropetrovsk confirmed that at least one civilian was killed in a Russian strike on the town of Mezhova.
According to the pro-Ukrainian military analysis center DeepState, Russian forces are nearing the borders of Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, which had a pre-war population of over three million. The oblast’s capital, Dnipro, was home to about one million residents before the 2022 invasion.
Dnipropetrovsk holds substantial industrial and logistical importance for Ukraine. Its potential fall would have far-reaching implications for both the country's economy and its war effort. Russian troops are also reportedly advancing into Kostiantynivka in Donetsk, a critical logistics hub for the Ukrainian army, and seizing villages still under Ukrainian control. Moscow announced the capture of the settlement of Zarya in Donetsk Oblast on Sunday.
“The enemy is not giving up on its plans to enter Dnipropetrovsk Oblast,” the Ukrainian Armed Forces said in a statement, noting that Ukrainian forces are “successfully and bravely” disrupting those plans.
Russia currently holds Crimea (annexed in 2014), nearly all of Luhansk and over 70% of Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson Oblasts in the east and south. It also controls parts of the Sumy and Kharkiv regions in the northeast.
On Saturday, Russian forces launched coordinated attacks using drones, missiles and guided bombs against Kharkiv, killing four civilians and injuring more than 60, according to Ukrainian reports. Russia also claimed it intercepted 61 Ukrainian drones near Moscow, prompting the temporary shutdown of two airports.
Russia further accused Ukraine of stalling an agreement to exchange the bodies of 12,000 fallen soldiers—an allegation Kyiv denied. On Sunday, Moscow said that it had returned the remains of roughly 6,000 Ukrainian troops across the border.