KIEV
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy claimed that Kyiv’s forces have retaken control of a village in the country’s northeastern Sumy region, which Russia captured earlier this month.
In a video address late Saturday, Zelenskyy said that he listened to a report earlier in the day by Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi concerning the frontline and Ukraine’s active military actions.
Expressing that particular attention was paid to the Pokrovsk front in the eastern Donetsk region, Zelenskyy said they also addressed the situation in the Sumy region, especially its border areas.
“We are managing to push Russian forces out of those areas. For this, I thank all our units who are truly delivering results,” Zelenskyy said.
Russia claimed the capture of multiple settlements in Sumy over the past weeks after Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the creation of a “security buffer zone” along his country’s border with Ukraine back in May.
Earlier, Zelenskyy told journalists that there are 53,000 Russian troops fighting in the Sumy region, where he said clashes are ongoing at a maximum depth of 7 kilometers (4.3 miles), according to Ukrainian public broadcaster Suspilne.
He denied Russian forces had crossed into the country’s Dnipropetrovsk region.
On June 3, Moscow claimed it took control of the village of Andriivka, situated about 5 kilometers (3 miles) from the Russia-Ukraine border.
The village is also located about 24 kilometers (15 miles) north of Sumy city, the region’s administrative center, which has been regularly hit by Russian airstrikes over the course of the Ukraine war, now in its fourth year.
Russian authorities have not yet commented on Ukraine’s claims, and independent verification of the claims is difficult due to the ongoing conflict.
