Russian troops have pushed into the Dnipropetrovsk region of central Ukraine, Ukrainian military analysts said on Tuesday.
Experts from the Deepstate situation map service marked the towns of Zaporizke and Novoheorhiyivka in the region as Russian-occupied.
Moscow has been talking for weeks about advancing into the area west of the hard-contested Donetsk region. The Ukrainian army denied the latest claims.
"The Ukrainian armed forces have stopped the advance of the Russian invaders and continue to control the village of Zaporizke," the Dnipro army group responsible for the section of the front posted on Telegram.
Fighting for the neighbouring hamlet of Novoheorhiyivka is said to be continuing.
"The information about the occupation of both localities by the Russians does not correspond to the facts," the military stressed.
Meanwhile, war veterans and active soldiers are increasingly criticizing commanders for writing embellished situation reports, meaning the army leadership is not always aware of the real situation.
Russian troops have been advancing in eastern Ukraine for months, and have now reached the southern borders of the Donetsk region.
Further to the north-west, however, Moscow's forces are making slow headway, largely held back by a ring of major fortifications.
According to media reports, Russian President Vladimir Putin has made the surrender of this strip of land a condition for freezing the front line elsewhere.
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