MOSCOW (Reuters) -- Russian forces have taken control of the first village in the east-central Ukrainian region of Dnipropetrovsk, Russian state media and war bloggers said on Monday, after Russia took 950 square kms of territory in two months.
There was no immediate confirmation from Ukrainian sources or from the Russian Defense Ministry.
As Moscow and Kyiv talk of possible peace, the war has intensified with Russian forces carving out a 200 square kilometer (77.22 square miles) chunk of Ukraine’s Sumy region and entering the Dnipropetrovsk region last month.
The authoritative Ukrainian Deep State map shows that Russia now controls 113,588 square kms of Ukrainian territory, up 943 square km over the two months to June 28.
Russia’s state RIA news agency quoted a pro-Russian official, Vladimir Rogov, as saying that Russian forces had taken control of the village of Dachnoye just inside the Dnipropetrovsk region.
Russia has said it is willing to make peace but that Ukraine must withdraw from the entirety of four regions which Russia mostly controls and which President Vladimir Putin says are now legally part of Russia.
Ukraine and its European backers say those terms are tantamount to capitulation and that Russia is not interested in peace and that they will never accept Russian control of a fifth of Ukraine.
The areas under Russian control include Crimea, more than 99% of the Luhansk region, over 70% of the Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions, all in the east or southeast, and fragments of the Kharkiv, Sumy and Dnipropetrovsk regions.
German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul arrived in Kyiv to discuss support for Ukraine in its war with Russia, the foreign ministry said on Monday.
“We will continue to stand firmly by Ukraine’s side so that it can continue to defend itself successfully - with modern air defense and other weapons, with humanitarian and economic aid,” Wadephul said in a statement.
President Volodymyr Zelensky called for help from Washington and Western allies to bolster Ukraine’s air defenses after a Russian attack on Sunday that involved hundreds of drones, cruise and ballistic missiles.
Germany is Ukraine’s second-biggest military backer after the United States, whose commitment to Kyiv has been called into question, putting pressure on Europe to step up.