By Staff Reporter
MOSCOW: On Sunday, Russia announced its forces had advanced to the edge of Ukraine’s east-central Dnipropetrovsk region.
Russia, which currently controls just under a fifth of Ukrainian territory, has notably gained over 190 square kilometers (73 square miles) in the Sumy region of eastern Ukraine in under a month. The Russian Ministry of DefenCe now reports that units of the 90th Tank Division of the Central Grouping of Russian forces have reached the western frontier of Ukraine’s Donetsk region and are actively attacking the adjacent Dnipropetrovsk region.
Dmitry Medvedev, the deputy chairman of Russia’s Security Council, said the Dnipropetrovsk offensive showed that if Ukraine did not want to accept the reality of Russia’s territorial gains in peace talks then Moscow’s forces would advance further.
For his part, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told ABC News his country is ready for a ceasefire brokered by the United States, accusing Russian President Vladimir Putin of aiming for the “total defeat” of Ukraine.
In the meantime, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday that he did not think Ukraine’s leaders wanted peace, after accusing them of ordering a bombing in Bryansk, western Russia, that killed seven people and injured 115 a day before talks in Türkiye
.
