Gerasimov: Putin Orders Expansion of Russian ‘Buffer Zone’ in Northeastern Ukraine

Russian military commander Valery Gerasimov said on Wednesday that Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered his troops to expand what Moscow calls its “buffer zone” in northeastern Ukraine in the new year, as per Reuters.

According to Russian state media outlet RIA Novosti, the chief of the general staff of the Russian Armed Forces also claimed that Russia’s “North” troop grouping has captured roughly 950 square kilometers (367 square miles) of territory in Ukraine’s Sumy and Kharkiv regions.

The Kremlin has repeatedly claimed to be seeking control of northeastern Ukraine in order to protect Russians living in border areas such as Kursk and Belgorod from cross-border attacks. Kyiv contends that this is a pretext for a deeper Russian invasion. 

The leaders of countries on the EU and NATO’s eastern flank recently warned that Russia’s goal is to “create a buffer zone stretching from the Arctic region through the Baltic and Black Seas to the Mediterranean.”

Gerasimov’s comments come as weeks of peace negotiations pushed by US President Donald Trump hang in the balance. The US had been optimistic about the plan’s chances of coming to fruition, while Russia either rejected or remained noncommittal about the specific contents of the plan.

Earlier this week, however, the Kremlin claimed that Kyiv had launched 91 long-range drones at Putin’s Valdai residence in Novgorod. Trump appeared to take this seriously despite Kyiv’s denial and the lack of evidence proffered by Moscow, saying that he was “very angry” about the alleged attack.

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Zelensky Reveals Intercepted Intel from Putin’s Desk

President Volodymyr Zelensky has declassified intercepted Russian intelligence forecasts that indicate a deepening domestic crisis for the Kremlin. The internal documents, originally prepared for Vladimir Putin’s desk, project that by the Sept. 20 State Duma elections, public disapproval of the Russian leader will steadily climb to at least 33%. Simultaneously, support for the ruling United Russia party is plummeting, sparking a surge in regional protest sentiment.

In the aftermath, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov accused Ukraine of attempting to “collapse” the peace process. If Putin’s general is to be believed, however, Russia is gearing up for another year of its war in Ukraine.