Ukrainian forces have repelled Russia’s latest push into the northern Sumy region and stabilized the front line near the border, Ukraine’s top military commander said Thursday.
Col. Gen. Oleksandr Syrskyi, commander in chief of Ukraine’s armed forces, credited the gains with preventing Moscow from redeploying some 50,000 troops – including elite airborne and naval infantry units – to other critical fronts.
His claim could not be independently verified, and Russian officials did not immediately respond.
Russian forces have been slowly grinding forward at some points along the roughly 1,000-kilometer (620-mile) front line, though their incremental gains have been costly in terms of troop casualties and damaged armor. The outnumbered Ukrainian army has relied heavily on drones to keep the Russians back.
Months of U.S.-led international efforts to stop the more than three-year war have failed. Amid the hostilities, the two sides have continued prisoner-of-war swaps agreed on during recent talks between their delegations in Istanbul.
Russia’s Defense Ministry and Ukrainian authorities said another exchange took place Thursday.
Ukraine’s coordination headquarters for POWs said the swap included injured soldiers and those with health conditions. The youngest is 24 and the oldest is 62, it said, adding that more exchanges are expected soon.
Sumy, the city that is the capital of the Ukrainian region of the same name, had a prewar population of around 250,000. It lies about 20 kilometers from the front line. Russia’s push into the region earlier this year compelled Ukraine to strengthen its defenses there.
A special defense group has been formed to improve security in Sumy and surrounding communities, Syrskyi said, with a focus on enhancing fortifications and accelerating the construction of defensive barriers.
In March, Ukrainian forces withdrew from much of Russia’s neighboring Kursk region, parts of which they had controlled after a surprise cross-border attack in August.
That retreat enabled Russia to launch a counteroffensive that advanced between 2 and 12 kilometers into Ukrainian territory, according to various estimates.
Ukrainian officials say fierce fighting is also taking place in the eastern Donetsk region.
The Russian Defense Ministry said Thursday that its forces have captured two villages – Novoserhiivka and Shevchenko – in Donetsk.
Capturing Shevchenko marked an important stage in Russia’s ongoing offensive, which aims to break into Ukraine’s Dnipropetrovsk region, bordering Donetsk and home to a major industrial center, according to the ministry.
Meanwhile, the two sides continued launching long-range strikes.
The Russian ministry said 50 Ukrainian drones were downed over nine regions overnight, including three over the Moscow region.
Ukraine's air force said Russia deployed 41 Shahed and decoy drones across the country overnight, wounding five people. It said 24 drones were either intercepted or jammed.
