In a recent development, Russia announced the capture of a new village in the central Dnipropetrovsk region of Ukraine. The village, Novomykolaivka, is reportedly located near the border with the Donetsk region, which continues to be a focal point in the ongoing conflict. The Russian defense ministry declared that its forces reached the village at the beginning of July, asserting control over the area.
However, independent verification of this claim has proven challenging. The online battlefield map DeepState, managed by Ukrainian military analysts, indicates that Novomykolaivka remains under the control of Ukrainian forces. Despite such counterclaims, Russian troops have shown considerable strength and superiority in numbers, enabling them to carry out sustained offensives and gain territory along the eastern front.
By the end of August, Ukrainian officials acknowledged for the first time that Russian forces had penetrated the Dnipropetrovsk region. This was a notable shift, given that Moscow had been asserting its advances in this area since the start of July. Currently, Russian military operations are estimated to control approximately 20% of Ukrainian territory.
The situation is further complicated by the Kremlin’s demands for Ukraine to withdraw from the eastern Donbas region as a precondition for any cessation of hostilities—a stipulation that Kyiv has firmly rejected. Notably, the Dnipropetrovsk region is not among the five Ukrainian regions that Russia has declared as its own, which include Donetsk, Kherson, Lugansk, Zaporizhzhia, and Crimea.
In a stark warning, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky accused his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, of seeking to occupy all of Ukraine, asserting that Moscow’s ambitions would not cease even if Kyiv were to concede territory. This assertion underscores the tense atmosphere as peace negotiations between the two nations remain stalled. The Kremlin has indicated that discussions are currently on “pause” following a series of failed attempts to diplomatically address the conflict, which began with Russia’s full-scale offensive in February 2022.
On a tragic note, violence continues unabated, as demonstrated by a shelling attack on the town of Kostyantynivka in the eastern Donetsk region, which resulted in the deaths of three individuals, according to regional prosecutors. This incident highlights the grim reality faced by civilians caught in the crossfire of continued hostilities.
