ISTANBUL 

Russia claimed on Monday that it captured its first settlement in Ukraine’s Dnipropetrovsk region following months of offensive.

A statement by the Russian Defense Ministry claimed that its forces took control of the village of Dachne, less than a kilometer (0.6 miles) from Dnipropetrovsk's administrative border with Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region.

Last month, Vladimir Rogov, a pro-Russian official, told state news agency RIA that Russian troops had driven Ukrainian forces out of Dachne.

However, Ukraine's general staff later denied the claims, saying that Ukrainian forces continue to resist intense Russian attempts to breach the administrative border between Donetsk and Dnipropetrovsk.

The Russian Defense Ministry further claimed that its forces also took control of the village of Bezsalivka, situated less than a kilometer from Ukraine’s border with Russia in the northeastern Sumy region.

The village is located about 48 kilometers (29.8 miles) northwest of the region’s administrative center, which has been regularly targeted by Russian airstrikes amid the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war, now in its fourth year.

Earlier Monday, Ukraine’s general staff claimed its forces repelled 60 Russian assaults near 19 settlements on the Pokrovsk front, including Dachne.

However, Ukrainian authorities have not yet commented on Russia’s recent claims, and independent verification of the claims is difficult due to the ongoing war.