Ukraine Evacuates More Sumy Settlements as Russian Offensive Looms

Ukraine is evacuating 11 more villages in the northeastern Sumy region on Saturday ahead of a widely anticipated Russian offensive.

The announcement came after Russian troops reportedly breached several border villages in the region and seized parts of the Yunakivka and Khotin communities after Russian leader Vladimir Putin called for the creation of a so-called buffer zone inside Ukrainian territory. 

The Sumy Regional Military Administration announced the evacuation on Saturday morning via a social media update, adding that the order for the immediate evacuation had been signed.  

The evacuation applies to the Horobivka, Shtanivka, Voronivka, Yanchenky, Tsymbalivka, Shkurativka, Krovne, Mykolaivka, Rudnivka, Spaske and Kapitanivka settlements on the border. 

“All those in need of assistance are provided with transportation, humanitarian aid, temporary accommodation and social benefits,” the update says.

As of Saturday, 213 settlements in the Sumy region have been ordered to evacuate, RBC Ukraine reported. 

Russian rhetoric on creating a so-called “buffer zone” and troop concentrations in recent days have indicated a potential offensive in the area. 

On Wednesday, President Volodmyr Zelensky said Moscow has amassed 50,000 troops near the Sumy region. Ukraine’s Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrsky said the Sumy front is among the areas pressured by Russian troops in a Saturday update. 

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Russian officials also suggested taking Ukraine’s Sumy city during Putin’s recent visit to the Kursk region bordering Ukraine.

Speculators have suggested that a planned summer offensive in Ukraine is the reason why Moscow has thus far been stalling the peace talks, brushing off the West’s ceasefire call time and time again. 

Without accepting a ceasefire, Moscow has instead proposed a new round of direct talks with Kyiv on Monday in Istanbul, but Kyiv has not confirmed its attendance. 

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Wednesday evening that Moscow would present a memorandum towards a ceasefire to Kyiv at the talks. 

Kyiv said the memorandum should be presented after last weekend’s prisoner swap as agreed, adding that the meeting would not yield results unless it saw a copy of the memorandum in advance.

Kyiv has presented its version of the document to Washington and Moscow, where unnamed Ukrainian officials reportedly told the New York Times that it centered on a full ceasefire monitored by international partners. 

Reuters, citing its Kremlin sources, said Moscow’s version contains maximalist demands such as a freeze on NATO expansion, removal of sanctions and Ukraine’s permanent neutrality.