Russia Aiming To Annex A Sixth Ukrainian Province

This photograph showing a destroyed house and car following a shelling in Mezhova, Dnipropetrovsk region, on July 9 amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. AFP PIC

 

"Each year, the front line gets closer. I'm scared."

"Fields are burning. People are fleeing, leaving behind barren land."

"This might be the last year we harvest here... It will probably be the last."

Sergii Dozhenko, farmer, Dnipropetrovsk region

 

"[People living in the region are suffering from] anxiety, excessive worry, insomnia."

"[There is a] fear of not knowing what will happen next -- whether to stay or leave."

"[Even though there is daily anxiety from airstrikes], when reports say our troops have pushed back the Russians, people become more calm."

Pavlograd hospital, Dr. Natan, psychiatrist 

 

"I’m no longer afraid of anything. We’ve been through it all."

"That fear has become a part of my life."

"[The apparent calm in the town is deceptive. Most of its original residents have fled]."

"Everyone who remains is displaced."

Yevgen Grinshenko, 26, Mezhova, Ukraine

 

"It’s unfortunately true, fighting is happening here and there."

"[The Russians] are already very close [to the regional border]."

"They are advancing slowly, very slowly, but they are advancing."

"They [the advancing Russians] could claim all of Ukraine belongs to them. It won’t matter. Our resistance won’t change."

"[There is just one wish -- for the war to end quickly. It was wearying seeing young people] die every day. It’s hard. Impossible to accept."

Lieutenant Colonel Oleksander 

This photograph shows a memorial to soldiers who fell in the wars against Russia, in the town of Mezhova, in the Dnipropetrovsk region of central Ukraine, on June 8, 2025, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Moscow said it had succeeded in reaching the border separating the partially occupied eastern Ukrainian region of Donetsk and Dnipropetrovsk, after months of intense military efforts. (Photo by Florent VERGNES / AFP)

 

 A year earlier, said Ukrainian farmer Sergii Dozhenko, looking out over his vast sun-drenched wheat field in eastern Ukraine, the front line was about 60 kilometres away. Since that time, Russian forces have managed to half that distance. Russian drones in recent weeks have killed farmers across the central region of Dnipropetrovak which until recently has been more or less spared the fighting that ravaged great swaths of eastern and southern Ukraine territory.

 

Months of clashes between Russian troops and the Ukrainian defenders have led to Russian claims of having taken three villages in the region, the past July. Symbolic of their slow but steady advance; the villages the first to go in close to three and a half years of conflict between aggressor and aggressed. These are claims of villages lost to Russian occupation that Ukraine denies. Despite which farmer Dozhenko compulsively scans the sky for incoming Russian explosive drones.  

 

Moscow’s forces are three miles from Dnipropetrovsk, a province they have never invaded. If they cross in, the advance would be a morale blow to Ukraine and complicate any territorial negotiations. The New York Times

 

Kyiv, in a bid to counter the Russian advances, builds defensive lines further westward. Portions of land owned by Dozhenko have been sacrificed for digging trenches, lined with barbed wire. A garrison town close to the fighting, Mezhove sees Ukrainian soldiers reject Russia's claims of having captured the village of Dachne, explaining the Russian troops had merely entered briefly before the Ukrainian defenders drove them out.

 

"Russians love symbols. They send soldiers to die just to plant a flag", Andrii, a regiment commander, commented disparagingly. Civilians stay clear south of the town, not venturing onto a road leading to the battles a mere 12 kilometres in distance. Town residents watch clouds of black smoke rising above charred fields, knowing that yet another farmer has been targeted by a drone. 

 

In July, Moscow reached the region's border. Townspeople are reluctant, but fearing the worst contemplate evacuating. "I don't know how much time I have left", said 71-year-old Zoya. "Not enough to see Ukraine's victory", she said plaintively. Fearing that when she felt forced finally to evacuate she would have to leave her cow Lypka behind, breaking into tears.

 

The first large wave of displaced people arrived at a centre early in June as fighting intensified near the region and  evacuation orders were issued by authorities. Five regions of Ukraine have so far been claimed by the Kremlin through military action and annexation. Through Russia's territorial expansionary ambitions, Dnipropetrovsk would represent a sixth such annexation.

 

At the Pavlograd hospital, Marina Huebner, head of the rehabilitation department verified that "the front is getting closer. There are bombings, sleepless nights." The hospital sends out medical teams closer to combat areas, to assist civilians that are stranded, as the last hospital before the front line. "We are essentially like a fortress here, on the first line", she said. 

 

The 148th Separate Artillery Zhytomyr Brigade of Air Assault forces fired an M777 howitzer at Russian targets from the Kurakhove front line, last week. NYT