The Sumy Regional Military Administration reported that the settlements of Novenke, Basovka of the Yunakiv district, and Veselivka, Zhuravka of the Khotyn district of the region are under Russian control.
«The residents of these villages were evacuated long ago, there is no threat to the civilian population there. The defense forces of Ukraine and all components of the defense forces keep the situation under control, inflicting precise fire damage on the enemy. Our defenders decisively repel enemy attacks and do not allow them to advance deeper into the territory of Sumy region», — wrote the head of the regional military administration Oleg Grigorov on social media. He also added that Russia continues attempts to advance in order to create a so-called «buffer zone».
On May 22, Vladimir Putin announced during a meeting with government members about the decision to create a «buffer security zone along the border» of Russia and Ukraine. This concerns the Kursk, Bryansk, and Belgorod regions. These regions border the Kharkiv, Sumy, and Chernihiv regions of Ukraine.
Earlier, on May 16, during Ukrainian-Russian negotiations in Istanbul, the Russian delegation threatened to capture the Sumy region to create a «security zone». The city of Sumy is located about 25 kilometers from the international border, and the buffer zone along with the city would make it impossible for the Ukrainian Defense Forces to use artillery and tactical drones to strike Russian territory.
However, experts from the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) doubt that Russia will be able to capture the entire region. Over the past three years, Russia has shown an inability to quickly capture even much smaller settlements in Ukraine.