The rise of Russia in northeastern Ukraine can be offered to create ‘buffer zone’

Russian armed forces achieve profit in the Ukrainian northeastern region of Sumy – a development that can be linked to Moscow’s attempts to create “buffer zones” along the border, have said the Ukrainian regional authorities.

The head of the Sumy region Oleh Hryhorov said that Russian troops have seized four villages and that fighting continues in the vicinity of other settlements in the area “with the aim of setting up a so-called” buffer zone “.

Russia claims that so far it has caught six villages in Sumy.

Last week the leader Vladimir Putin announced a plan to make “security buffer zones” along the border. “Hostile shooting points are actively suppressed, the work is underway,” he said.

The buffer zones would be created to offer “extra support” to areas in Russia that border the regions of Kharkiv, Sumy and Chernihiv in Ukraine, Putin said.

In a statement on Facebook on Monday, Sumy’s Hryhorov wrote: “The enemy remains attempts to continue with the aim of setting up a so -called ‘buffer zone’,”

He added that the villages of Novenke, Basivka, Veselivka and Zhuravka – all in Sumy – were occupied.

KYIV has not yet officially stated that Russian troops in the region are Sumy and, when he was contacted by the BBC, Hryhorov refused to confirm the information he shared on Monday and said that only the army could comment on Front-Line activities.

The daily briefings of the General Staff only mentioned collisions and other military activities in “The Kursk Direction” – which means for the border with Russia – without naming specific locations.

The troop group of the Ukrainian army that coordinates military activities in the region has rejected the request of the BBC for comments, indicating that information about Russian progress in the north is an extremely sensitive issue for the Ukrainian authorities.

In his speech on Monday evening, however, the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zensky, mentioned the “Preparation for new offensives” of Russia – which was largely interpreted as a reference to the events in the Sumy region.

Deep State Map, a group that monitors the newest primary developments in Ukraine, marked four Ukrainian villages as fully controlled by Russian troops, even before the announcement of Hyrhorov.

Co-founder of Deep State novel Poornily said that Russian troops have been pushing those areas since March.

Ukrainian military observer Kostyantyn Mashovets confirmed this, although he pointed out that the rise of Russia has been very slow in the last two weeks – about 1 km (0.6 miles). Mr Mashovets also said that Moscow recently moved new units from the Donbas – to Sumy Region.

Colonel Vadym Mysnyk, a spokesperson for a formation of the ground troops involved in defending the Sumy region, said that Russian troops mainly use small groups on motorcycles and buggies during their attacks.

The movement of larger armored vehicles could be quickly seen by drones and destroyed, explained Col Mysyk. Speed ​​and mobility are crucial on the battlefield.

But the Sumy region was regularly attacked by Russian air strikes and artillery fire, where the regional administration reports that Russia has dropped more than 30 guided bombs in the area since Saturday.

One of the biggest attacks took place last month then Ballistic rockets hit the city of Sumy to kill 34 people. A few weeks later, drones became one Intercity bus kills nine people.

Russia focuses on residential buildings, hospitals and civilian vehicles to spread panic among the population, Col Mysyk claimed. Russia denies that it focuses on citizens in strikes and says they are focused on military goals.

Local authorities say that evacuation takes place in 202 settlements close to the front line, which forms a third of all territorial communities of the region.

Serhiy Grabskiy, a retired colonel and a military expert, agreed that the progress in Sumy are part of Moscow’s plan to make a buffer zone.

Grabskiy said that Russia’s most important strategic goal is to seize the Donbas region in the east, where the most intensive fights take place.

Given the number of troops they have, Russia “cannot concentrate big forces to go deep in the north,” argued Grabskiy.

He called the Sumy region a “zone of distraction” -as by maintaining the pressure in the north, forces Russia Ukraine to spread his resources and weaken positions in important front -line areas.

The Institute for the Study of War Think Tank, established in the US, also reports that every success in Sumy can be used by Putin as leverage and justification for new territorial requirements as part of future peace negotiations.

However, observers agree that there is no immediate threat of a major breakthrough in the Sumy region.

Based on the speed of their profit in the region so far, it is unlikely that Russian troops will be able to conquer a large city like Sumy in the near future, which had a population of 250,000 before the invasion.

Mr Pohorily of Deep State said that Ukrainian troops have succeeded in stabilizing the front line. “It is almost three months since (Russia) started their operation in the Sumy region and yet they are still at the border areas,” he said.

Col Mysnyk claimed that Ukraine has built defense lines along the entire border since 2022 and at the moment they are much better prepared to stop the Russian troops than at the start of the Russian invasion.

But those measures cannot last long if the priorities of the Kremlin change and Moscow sends greater forces to Sumy.