Russia reported Friday that their forces continue to establish a “security strip” in the border areas of the Ukrainian region of Sumy, after having expelled the Ukrainian troops in the Kursk region, located just on the other side of the border, in western Russia.
For their part, Ukraine argues that their forces maintain a presence in Kursk, where they made an incursion in August with the aim of distracting Russian forces and gaining advantage in possible peace negotiations. However, the Ukrainian government expresses its concern about a possible Russian advance towards Sumy.
Russian President Vladimir Putin declared in March that Russia should seek to create a damping area in the Sumy region to protect themselves from future Ukrainian incursions.
“The units of the Northern Group have completed the defeat of the formations of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the Kursk region,” said Russian Ministry of Defense in a statement.
“The creation of a ‘security strip’ in the border areas of the Sumy region, in Ukraine, continues.”
Two Majors, a Russian blogger specialized in war issues and with more than 1.2 million subscribers, said Russia is developing an offensive from Zhuravka to Bilovody, two villages located just on the other side of the border, in Sumy.
“Our paratroopers, after breaking the tenacious resistance of the enemy, advanced in the Loknyya area and in the Boscosas Border Broads” in the Sumy region, the blogger wrote this Friday.
A Commander of a Russian Brigade of Airborne Assault declared to the state agency Tass that the Ukrainian troops fighting in Sumy are demoralized.
“We have disorganized his command system,” the agency cited the commander.
Reuters could not independently verify these reports.
The governor of Sumy, Oleh Hryhorov, said Tuesday that Russia is having little success in her attempt to create a damping area, although she acknowledged that four border villages in the region, including Zhuravka, are in a “gray zone” due to Russian attacks.
Deep State, a Ukrainian open source data project, indicated that approximately 82 km2 of the Sumy region are in disputed zone.
On the other hand, the Russian Ministry of Defense reported that its troops have captured four villages in the Ukrainian Eastern Regions of Donetsk and Járkiv during the last week.
