KYIV, Ukraine — Russian troops have for the first time entered a key Ukrainian region, Kyiv's military said Wednesday, as President Donald Trump’s special envoy offered new details on the Kremlin's demands and stressed that the U.S. peace push remained on track.
A small number of Moscow's forces had crossed into the Dnipropetrovsk region and entered two villages, the Ukrainian military confirmed to NBC News, though it denied Russia had secured a stable position in the central region.
“They did not manage to gain a foothold because they were pushed back. Although the fighting is now going on in the immediate vicinity,” Ukrainian military spokesperson Viktor Tryhubov said by phone Wednesday.
"They are constantly trying to cross the administrative border, go to those settlements, but there is no stable control over those settlements," Tryhubov added.
He was referring to two villages, Zaporizke and Novoheorhiivka, that had fallen under Russian control, according to the Ukrainian group DeepState that tracks battlefield developments. Moscow’s defense ministry had previously claimed the capture of both villages.
NBC News is unable to independently verify the battlefield claims.
The situation in Dnipropetrovsk remains fluid, Tryhubov cautioned.
Russia’s military has been pushing to make gains there over the summer while President Donald Trump has been seeking a breakthrough to end the war, though his peace efforts have stalled in recent days.
The region is bordered to the east by Donetsk, large swaths of which are currently held by Russia. Trump's envoy, Steve Witkoff, said this area in Ukraine's industrial heartland is what the Kremlin has its eyes on in any peace settlement.
Witkoff told Fox News late Tuesday that the Kremlin had presented a peace proposal that involves Donetsk. But he conceded this “may not be something that the Ukrainians can take.”
The Russian defense ministry claimed hours later that it had captured another settlement in the Donetsk region, where intense battles are ongoing.
Nonetheless, Witkoff, who said he will meet with Ukrainian officials this week in New York, remained optimistic. “That’s a big signal,” he said on “Special Report with Bret Baier.”
“I think that we may end up seeing a bilateral meeting,” he said, adding that ultimately he thought Trump may "be needed at the table to finish a deal."
Trump himself had appeared less certain earlier this week about the possibility of a summit between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and the Kremlin cast new doubt on the process Wednesday.
"We view these discussions negatively," said Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov, dismissing the idea that Russia would accept the presence of European troops on its neighbor's territory as part of the security guarantees being worked out for Ukraine.
Peskov praised the "very substantive, constructive, useful, and necessary" summit between Putin and Trump in Alaska, but said it was not helpful to negotiate in public.
He reiterated that there are no dates planned for any summit between the Russian and Ukrainian leaders. “The heads of the negotiating teams remain in contact,” Peskov told reporters in his daily briefing. Any further high-level contacts “must be well-prepared in order to produce meaningful results,” he said.
Zelenskyy said Wednesday that Ukraine and its allies were “accelerating the process of defining the details” of the security guarantees in talks involving "military commanders, defense ministers, and security advisors."
But, he said in a post on X, “unfortunately, the Russians are currently sending negative signals regarding meetings and further developments.”
Apart from the diplomatic tensions, Ukraine is also facing continued Russian attacks.
Nearly 100 drones were launched overnight and hit Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, causing power outages in Poltava, Sumy and Chernihiv, Zelenskyy said in a separate post on X.
"New steps are needed to increase pressure on Russia to stop the attacks and to ensure real security guarantees," Zelenskyy said.
Ukraine has itself been targeting Russia's energy sector, striking refineries and other infrastructure in a campaign aimed squarely at Putin's economy.
Gas stations have run dry in some regions, with reports of motorists waiting in long lines and supplies running low while prices spike.
Daryna Mayer reported from Kyiv and Mithil Aggarwal from Hong Kong.
