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lite.cnn.com - on gopher - inofficial | |
ARTICLE VIEW: | |
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5 min read | |
Russian forces claim new advance deeper into Ukraine, amid dispute over | |
dead soldiers | |
By Kosta Gak and Catherine Nicholls, CNN | |
Updated: | |
7:18 PM EDT, Sun June 8, 2025 | |
Source: CNN | |
Russia claimed Sunday that its forces are for the first time pushing | |
into the central Ukrainian region of Dnipropetrovsk, an area it has | |
been trying to reach for months, in a move that could create new | |
problems for Kyiv’s much-stretched forces. | |
Subunits from the Russian military’s 90th tank division reached the | |
border of Dnipropetrovsk with the , large parts of which are already | |
under Russian occupation, according to the Russian Ministry of Defense. | |
After this, they continued into Dnipropetrovsk, the defense ministry | |
claimed. | |
The extent of the advance is unclear, as are Moscow’s ambitions for | |
the assault. CNN is unable to verify the battlefield reports, and | |
Ukraine has denied the Russian advance. | |
Viktor Trehubov, spokesperson for Ukraine’s Khortytsia forces, which | |
is in command of the area Moscow alleged it broke through, told CNN | |
that “the Russians are constantly spreading false information that | |
they have entered the Dnipropetrovsk region from the Pokrovsk and | |
Novopavlivka directions, but (in neither place) is this information | |
true.” | |
But if confirmed, the Russian advance would be a setback for Ukrainian | |
forces at a time when peace talks have stalled. Russian forces have | |
also in recent weeks made incremental progress in the , as well as near | |
Lyman in Donetsk. | |
The Russian advance would also put further pressure on the | |
Ukrainians’ grip on the town of Pokrovsk, a key hub that has been | |
under Russian assault for months. Ukraine’s General Staff said Sunday | |
morning that its troops had stopped 65 “offensive” Russian actions | |
in the Pokrovsk direction. | |
An Institute for the Study of War (ISW) assessment of Russia’s | |
offensive campaign found that Russian forces continued their offensive | |
operations in the Pokrovsk direction on Saturday, but did not advance. | |
Russia now controls just under one-fifth of Ukrainian territory, | |
according to the Ukrainian analysis group Deep State. That includes | |
Crimea and parts of eastern Ukraine that were occupied before | |
Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022. | |
Dmitry Medvedev, the deputy chairman of the Russian Security Council, | |
said that Russia pushed forward with the Dnipropetrovsk offensive after | |
Ukraine refused to recognize Russia’s territorial gains during the | |
peace talks in Istanbul. | |
“Anyone who does not want to acknowledge the realities of war in | |
negotiations will receive new realities on the ground,” Medvedev said | |
on Telegram. | |
Dnipropetrovsk is bordered by three regions that are partially occupied | |
by Russia – Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia. | |
One of Russia’s declared goals is capturing all three regions. It | |
already occupies all but a slither of a fourth region, Luhansk. | |
Dnipropetrovsk is more sparsely populated and rural than those four | |
regions, known as the Donbas, and will be more difficult to defend. It | |
is an important mining and logistics center and had an estimated | |
population of three million before the war began. | |
Russia’s claim comes days after its forces advanced further in the | |
northern Sumy region, bringing the region’s capital within range of | |
drones and artillery. | |
While capturing the region’s capital city, also named Sumy, is likely | |
beyond what Moscow is setting out to do, the move underlines the | |
pressure Kyiv is under, from the northern border to the Black Sea. | |
Failed prisoner swap | |
Russia’s advances in Ukraine come as the two countries clashed after | |
a of prisoners of war failed to take place on Saturday. | |
Moscow accused Kyiv of unexpectedly postponing a transfer involving | |
prisoners of war and the bodies of dead soldiers, leaving hundreds of | |
Ukrainian bodies in refrigerated trucks waiting to be collected from an | |
exchange point. | |
Ukrainian officials rejected this account, saying that the two sides | |
had agreed to exchange seriously wounded and young troops on Saturday | |
but a date had not yet been set for the repatriation of soldiers’ | |
remains. | |
During a second round of direct peace on Monday, Russia and Ukraine | |
agreed to exchange more prisoners this weekend. | |
Kyrylo Budanov, the head of Ukrainian Defense Intelligence, said that | |
his country was strictly adhering to the agreements reached in Istanbul | |
and that the start of “repatriation measures” is scheduled to take | |
place next week. | |
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky insisted that Ukraine is doing | |
everything possible to ensure the release of prisoners and the return | |
of the soldiers’ bodies. | |
“Unfortunately, there are still no complete lists from Russia for a | |
thousand plus people – which we agreed on in Istanbul,” he said. | |
‘Fighting like crazy’ | |
The conflict has intensified in recent weeks. Ukraine conducted an | |
audacious drone attack that took out last Sunday, as well as a strike | |
on the bridge connecting Russia to the annexed Crimean peninsula using | |
on Monday. | |
Russian forces have also advanced further into Ukraine, attempting to | |
grab territory quickly as peace talks between the warring countries | |
continue. | |
Delegations representing Kyiv and Moscow met in Istanbul on Monday for | |
a , but there were no major breakthroughs, with talks lasting a little | |
over an hour. | |
Critics have accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of dragging out | |
peace negotiations so that his country can grab more Ukrainian land. | |
Despite his insistence that he wants an end to the fighting, Putin has | |
refused to agree to an unconditional 30-day ceasefire, instead | |
proposing a much narrower ceasefire, lasting just two or three days in | |
certain parts of the frontline. | |
US President Donald Trump has repeatedly told Russia and Ukraine there | |
will be consequences if they don’t engage in his peace process, | |
although he has so far resisted growing calls from both Republican and | |
Democratic lawmakers to use to pressure Putin into winding down his | |
war. | |
On Thursday, Trump to children fighting, telling reporters: | |
“Sometimes you see two young children fighting like crazy. They hate | |
each other, and they’re fighting in a park, and you try and pull them | |
apart. They don’t want to be pulled. Sometimes you’re better off | |
letting them fight for a while and then pulling them apart.” | |
He said that only he would know when the right time to apply sanctions | |
on Russia would be, even suggesting he’d be willing to use new | |
punitive measures on Ukraine if the war doesn’t end. | |
“We’ll be very, very, very tough, and it could be on both countries | |
to be honest,” Trump said. “You know, it takes two to tango.” | |
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