Russia’s Defence Ministry said on 7 July that its forces had captured Dachne, a village lying just inside Ukraine’s central Dnipropetrovsk province and adjacent to the Russian-held Donetsk region. It is Moscow’s first announced ground gain in Dnipropetrovsk since the full-scale invasion began in February 2022, potentially extending the front line into an area that is a key industrial and mining hub for Kyiv. Ukraine has not confirmed the loss. The General Staff in Kyiv earlier reported that its troops repelled assaults near Dachne and 18 other settlements on the Pokrovsk front. Independent verification of the battlefield situation remains difficult amid continuing hostilities. The Russian ministry also claimed to have seized Bezsalivka, a settlement in Ukraine’s northeastern Sumy region close to the Russian border, according to Anadolu Agency. Ukrainian authorities have yet to comment on that assertion. Moscow’s announcement followed an overnight barrage of drones and missiles that Ukrainian officials said killed at least four people and wounded more than 30 in the regions of Sumy, Odesa, Kherson, Kharkiv and Dnipropetrovsk. Russia, for its part, said it shot down 91 Ukrainian drones, eight of them over the Moscow region. The latest claims come as diplomatic efforts stall. Russia is pressing for Kyiv to cede four partially occupied regions and renounce its bid to join NATO—conditions Ukraine rejects while demanding a full withdrawal of Russian troops.