Ukraine has rejected Russian claims to have entered the central-eastern region of Dnipropetrovsk for the first time, as fighting was reported close to the frontier.
With Vladimir Putin intensifying his push to seize further Ukrainian territory, Russia’s defence ministry claimed that its forces had reached the western border of Ukraine’s Donetsk region and were now attacking Dnipropetrovsk – a mineral-rich region which is not among the four Russia has sought to unilaterally annexe since its full-scale invasion.
But Ukraine strongly refuted these claims, with its Southern Defence Forces saying: “The enemy has not abandoned its plans to enter Dnipropetrovsk. Our soldiers are bravely and professionally holding their section of the front, thwarting the occupier’s plans.”
Ukrainian military chiefs – who reported multiple Russian offensives in the area on Sunday – and Ukraine’s Khortytsia group of forces also rejected the claims, with the latter warning that “the Russians are constantly spreading false information that they have entered” Dnipropetrovsk.
It came after Volodymyr Zelensky accused Russian forces of “pure terrorism” after Russia launched multiple rounds of devastating attacks on Kharkiv’s civilians on Saturday, killing four people and wounded more than 60.
