Moscow’s forces have advanced southward to within 18 miles of the city of Sumy, the capital of the northeastern region that was completely liberated of Russian occupiers shortly after the beginning of the full-scale invasion.
At the same time, the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) reported that Moscow’s forces are poised to cross the regional border between Donetsk and Dnipropetrovsk, which could significantly interrupt Ukrainian ground lines of communications with defending forces in Donetsk.
The ISW quoted Russian military bloggers on Sunday who claimed that invading troops had reached the Donetsk-Dnipropetrovsk Oblast border northwest of Horikhove (southeast of Novopavlivka) and advanced southeast of Muravka (northeast of Novopavlivka), and west of Kotlyarivka (east of Novopavlivka).
The reports confirm claims by the Russian Ministry of Defense on Sunday that elements of the Russia’s 90th Tank Division have advanced to the western border of Donetsk region and are continuing to mount an offensive on Dnipropetrovsk.
The Washington-based think tank said that it could not independently confirm the troops’ positions with geolocated footage. AFP, however, did report on posted photos showing Russian troops raising the Russian flag over the village of Zorya in the Donetsk region, close to the border.
Ukrainian military personnel previously told AFP that Russia could advance relatively quickly in the largely flat region, given there were fewer natural obstacles or villages that could be used as defensive positions by Kyiv’s forces.
Meanwhile, in the north, observers on the ground have confirmed the southward advance of Russian troops to within 18 miles of Sumy.
The ISW highlighted Russian military bloggers’ posts claiming that Russian forces advanced west of Mala Korchakivka and toward Varachyne and Khotin (all north of Sumy City). They added that Russian forces have engaged in combat in the areas of Yunakivka and Yablunivka
Meanwhile, independent observers have confirmed the Kremlin’s claims to have retaken the village of Loknia. That settlement had been liberated along with the rest of the Sumy region during Ukraine’s 2022 spring counteroffensive.
The city of Sumy, 200 miles northeast of Kyiv, has never been occupied during Russia’s full-scale invasion.
President Volodymyr Zelensky had raised the alarm last month about the 50,000 troops that Moscow had amassed on the Sumy border with Russia’s Kursk region, and a series of towns in the area have fallen since.
On May 31, the regional governor has called for the mandatory evacuation of 11 more settlements in the area. Now 213 towns and villages in Sumy have been evacuated.