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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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