KYIV, Ukraine (Monitoring Desk) — Russia has forced its way into an eighth Ukrainian region, deepening a brutal three-year war that shows no end in sight as U.S.-led peace efforts stall.
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Ukrainian military spokesman Victor Trehubov said Wednesday that Russian troops entered the villages of Novoheorhiivka and Zaporizke in the eastern Dnipropetrovsk region — a vital industrial hub bordering war-ravaged Donetsk.
While Moscow claimed the territory earlier this month, Ukrainian officials insist fighting is still raging and the invaders have not built lasting defenses.
The grinding war has already turned much of eastern and southeastern Ukraine into a deadly battlefield.
The front line stretches nearly 1,000 kilometers (620 miles), running through towns and farmland where tens of thousands of soldiers on both sides have been killed. Russia already controls parts of Sumy, Kharkiv, Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia, Kherson, and Mykolaiv, in addition to illegally seizing Crimea in 2014.
Despite steady gains through rural areas, analysts note Russia has failed to seize major cities.
Still, the unrelenting pressure has left Ukrainian forces stretched thin.
Meanwhile, diplomacy remains frozen. Western leaders accuse President Vladimir Putin of playing for time while grabbing more ground. U.S. President Donald Trump expressed frustration this week, warning he will decide on “next steps” within two weeks if Putin refuses direct peace talks with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Ukraine has already accepted U.S. proposals for a ceasefire summit, but Moscow resists plans for Western-backed security guarantees, including the possible deployment of European troops — a move the Kremlin calls unacceptable.
On the battlefield, Ukraine has launched long-range drone strikes on Russian oil facilities, causing fuel shortages. Russia, in turn, is hammering Ukraine’s power grid, targeting energy and gas infrastructure in six regions ahead of winter.
With both sides digging in, the war continues to inch forward — village by village — while peace slips further out of reach.
