Units of Ukraine's 95th Separate Airborne Assault Brigade have taken full control of Berezove in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, the Air Assault Forces reported on 26 March. The village is one of the last remaining settlements Russia held in the oblast — a region Moscow only entered for the first time in August 2025 and has since been nearly entirely pushed out of.
"The enemy stays in Ukrainian soil forever"
"Step by step, the paratroopers are driving Russian occupiers from Ukrainian land. Where units of the Air Assault Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine enter — the enemy suffers colossal losses, or stays in Ukrainian soil forever," the command wrote.
Berezove sits at the junction of Dnipropetrovsk, Zaporizhzhia, and Donetsk oblasts — the exact terrain Russia had seized as part of its push to establish a buffer zone in the region and use it as a staging ground for its current 2026 spring offensive.
Near-total reversal of Russia's Dnipropetrovsk gains
Ukraine's clearance of Berezove is the latest step in a two-drive operation launched in late January 2026 that has liberated over 400 km² across the Oleksandrivka and Huliaipole directions spanning parts of Dnipropetrovsk, Zaporizhzhia, and Donetsk oblasts. As of early March, a senior Ukrainian general said five settlements still needed clearing across Dnipropetrovsk Oblast specifically — three requiring final clearance work and two more to be cleared.
The Institute for the Study of War previously assessed that Ukraine's advances in the south are forcing Russia to redeploy forces from other frontline areas and likely from operational reserves — and may have spoiled Moscow's planned spring-summer 2026 offensive campaign.
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ISW: Ukraine’s two-drive advance in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast was designed to push Russia out and pre-empt its spring offensive — and has liberated over 400 km²
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“Almost the entire territory liberated”: Ukraine nears full clearance of Dnipropetrovsk Oblast – reversing Russia’s “buffer zone”
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