Photo: Russian troops are trying to enter Sumy region, but the Ukrainian Armed Forces are not allowing them to do so (Getty Images) Author: Maria Kucheryavets
Expert: Andrey Demchenko
While fighting continues in the Kursk region, the Russian army is trying to break through the border in the Sumy region. In small assault groups, the Russians are trying to advance deep into Ukraine, in particular, near the village of Novenkoye, and gain a foothold.
What is known about the attempts of Russian troops to break through the border in Sumy region and what is actually happening there – RBC-Ukraine has collected in the material.
What Russians say about the “border breach” in Sumy Oblast
In recent weeks, the Russian army has stepped up its offensive in the Kursk region, trying to push Ukrainian troops out of the Kursk region, which has been there since the operation began in August 2024.
As part of this, the enemy continues to carry out raids along the international border between the Sumy and Kursk regions. In particular, the aggressor sends its assault troops in small groups in the direction of the village of Novenkoye (Sumy region), which is located in the border area, where the enemy is attempting to gain a foothold.
As the head of the Sumy OVA Vladimir Artyukh recently stated, there are currently no Russian troops units on the territory of the region, and individual groups are being destroyed. The enemy is conducting intensive shelling of the Sumy region, increasingly using drones.
“As of today, not a single Russian unit has entered the region. There are attempts by the enemy to enter Sumy region in separate groups, but thanks to our Armed Forces, defense forces, using aviation and missile strikes, these groups are being destroyed,” Artyukh said.
Russian dictator Vladimir Putin, who yesterday visited the Kursk region for the first time during the seven-month operation of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, ordered his terrorist troops to “as soon as possible” drive Ukrainian forces out of the Kursk region and “think” about creating a so-called “security zone” along the Russian border of the Kursk region.
In turn, the Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Federation, Valery Gerasimov, reported to Putin that “in certain areas the Russian army” allegedly left the Kursk border area, allegedly “crossed the state border and entered the Sumy region.”
Map: The territory of the Ukrainian bridgehead in Kursk has recently shrunk (deepstatemap)
What's Happening: State Border Service Explanation
As noted by the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine, the situation within the Sumy region in the section where the Ukrainian Defense Forces are conducting their operation in the Kursk region has not changed dramatically.
“In fact, on the left flank, if you look at this territory, the enemy is still trying to accumulate there, cross our border, gain a foothold . We are talking about the direction of the settlement of Novenkoye ,” – said the spokesman of the State Border Service of Ukraine Andrey Demchenko in a comment to RBC-Ukraine.
According to him, the enemy’s goal is most likely to encircle Ukrainian troops in the Kursk region or to cut off logistics routes . However, it is not possible to gain a foothold in the enemy's territory, since the section of the border in the direction of Novyenky does not allow the enemy to use equipment that could break through the Ukrainian border.
“That's why they (the Russians – ed.) resorted to the tactics of using small assault groups. These are actually several people, sometimes a group can reach a maximum of 5 servicemen with the task of running across our border, crossing our border as far as possible, gaining a foothold, amassing and expanding the combat zone,” says Demchenko.
He stressed that Ukrainian soldiers are resisting the occupiers, not giving them the opportunity to gain a foothold.
” In fact, this territory is a kill zone . Muscovites run in and die because they are being shot at. And the enemy cannot achieve their goal. The enemy has already tried to carry out such actions on the left flank more than once,” Demchenko noted.
He recalled that when the Ukrainian bridgehead in the Kursk region was wider, about 3 weeks ago there was an attempt by Russian troops to break through the border in the direction of the settlement of Zhuravka . Then the enemy even used columns of equipment that were moving towards our border. But they were destroyed.
Photo: settlements of Zhuravka and Novenkoye (Sumy region), where the enemy is trying to break through (deepstatemap)
The spokesman for the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine also denied yesterday's Russian statements that their troops allegedly managed to cross the Ukrainian border in Sumy region.
“In fact, there is no border breakthrough at the moment, as anyone in the Russian Federation can interpret it. The fact that individual servicemen crossed the border, trying to gain a foothold on our territory, and then died, is not a border breakthrough. Because in fact, the entire line of the state border with Russia can be considered a front line. And the enemy can try to break through anywhere, use some groups, including sabotage and reconnaissance groups,” Demchenko concluded.
Let us recall that the situation in Kursk Oblast is currently deteriorating. The enemy, in an attempt to cut off the Ukrainian Armed Forces' logistics, has advanced to the important Sumy-Sudzha highway and reduced the width of the Ukrainian forces' bridgehead. What is happening there, what are the reasons for the deterioration of the situation, and whether the Ukrainian Armed Forces will hold the “buffer” – in a separate article by RBC-Ukraine.
In preparing the material, the following were used: an exclusive commentary by the speaker of the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine Andriy Demchenko, DeepState maps, a statement by the head of the Sumy Regional Anti-Corruption Office Vladimir Artyukh, etc.
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