Russia Seizes Sumy Region Villages in Push for ‘Buffer Zone’

Russian forces have breached several border villages in Ukraine’s Sumy region, seizing parts of the Yunakivka and Khotin communities, but Ukrainian defense forces have halted further Kremlin advances, according to official.

The Ukrainian Armed Forces (AFU) units are holding their positions and preventing further enemy advances, according to Oleg Hryhorov, head of the Sumy Regional Military Administration.

Sumy region lies in northeastern Ukraine and shares a direct border with the Russian Federation, making it particularly vulnerable to cross-border attacks.

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Currently under Russian control are the villages of Novenke, Basivka, Veselivka, and Zhuravka.

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“As of now, the villages of Novenke and Basivka in the Yunakivka community, as well as Veselivka and Zhuravka in the Khotin community, are under enemy control. The residents of these villages had been evacuated in advance, so there is no threat to the civilian population,” Hryhorov reported late Monday, May 26.

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The regional governor added that Russia continues its attempts to advance in order to create a so-called “buffer zone,” as the Kremlin terms it.

The city of Sumy lies just 25 kilometers (15 miles) from the border with Ukraine, and a buffer zone encompassing it would hamper Kyiv’s ability to launch tube artillery or tactical drone strikes into Russian territory.

Active fighting is ongoing on the outskirts of Vodolaha and near the villages of Volodymyrivka, Bilovody, Kostiantynivka, and Kindrativka in the Khotin community, as well as around Loknya in the Yunakivka community.

Previously Kyiv Post reported that on May 22, in an online meeting with top Russian officials, Putin said Moscow had “decided to create the necessary security buffer zone” along Ukraine’s border. He claimed Russian forces were already “suppressing enemy firing points” to make that happen.

Though he gave few details, Russian state media later said he was referring to the Bryansk, Kursk and Belgorod regions that border Ukraine’s Chernihiv, Sumy and Kharkiv regions in the northeast.

Russian lawmakers say the zone should stretch into not three, but six Ukrainian regions, including the Dnipropetrovsk, Mykolaiv and Odesa regions in central and southern Ukraine – not just the border areas.

One Russian general, Viktor Sobolev, said the idea is to force long-range Ukrainian weapons like HIMARS out of striking range.

“I think the buffer zone of security should cover the border areas where our new regions [illegally annexed Zaporizhzhia, Kherson regions] are located, among other things. That is, these are parts of Chernihiv, Sumy, Kharkiv, Dnipropetrovsk, Mykolaiv and Odesa regions,” Sobolev said.

The statement followed an uptick in Russian cross-border attacks, especially in Ukraine’s Sumy region bordering Russia’s Kursk region.

Ukrainian troops have withdrawn from some areas in Russia’s Kursk region since April, and since then, Russian sabotage teams have tried to cross the border, backed by drones, missiles, and aerial bombs.

Ukraine’s State Security Service says the border near Sumy is now a hotspot. In just a month, over 52,000 people have been evacuated. Russia has even struck evacuation vehicles, including a civilian bus near Bilopillia.