Ukrainian forces stop Russian progress in the Sami region, says the chief of the army

The head of the army of Ukraine, General Oleksandr Sirsky, said his troops stopped Russian success in the north -east border region of Sumi.

During a visit to the front on Thursday, Sirski said the battle line was “stabilized” and that the Russian summer offensive in the area was “gasping”.

However, Sirski also added that he personally went to check the fortifications in the region and needed more.

Syrian comments on the successes of Ukrainian troops in Sumy Back Alya Dailes from Ukrainian officials that Russia’s pressure on the region is declining.

However, the situation remained “changing”, said Border Guard Press Andrei Demchenko earlier this week.

Sumi borders on the Russian region Kursk, parts of which were confiscated and occupied last year by Ukrainian forces in an unexpected offensive before almost completely expelled.

The invasion of Kursk was embarrassed for Russia, and in April, President Vladimir Putin announced the plan to create “security zones” on the border to provide “additional support” to the Russian regions bordered by the regions of Kharkiv, Sumi and Chernihiv.

Since then, Moscow has been pushing in the area with new efforts. In late May, Ukraine Volodimir Zelensky stated that the 50,000 largest troops in Russia were concentrated along the border and planned to create a 10 km buffer zone (6 miles).

There was criticism about the lack of fortifications in some areas of the Sumi region – and in his statement on Thursday, Sirski tried to stop growing public problems about the delay in their construction.

“Additional fortifications, creation of” murder of zones “, construction of anti-punctivation of corridors to protect our soldiers and providing more secure logistics for our troops-visible tasks that are fulfilled,” he said.

However, Sirski acknowledged that these improvements should be done better and more effective.

In the early days of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the lack of fortifications in some parts of Ukraine allowed Moscow to succeed across the country – from the northern borders and from the illegally annexed Crimean Peninsula.

The window of the opportunity to build strengthening in the SUMY was safe and quickly was in the fall of 2024, when the Ukrainian troops were still moving in the Russian border region of Kursk, and Sumi remained relatively intact.

Now it may be too late, as Russia is undoubtedly well aware of the sections of the front that do not have strong fortifications.

Over the past few months, Moscow has claimed that it had captured several villages, pressing the city with heavy missile strikes, killing dozens. The only ballistic missile attack on April 13 died at least 34 people and suffered 117.

The DeepState Group, which monitors the latest frontline development in Ukraine, quotes sources confirming that the fight is raging in various non -bounded areas of SUMY. Delays with the erection of “so necessary fortifications” or “poor quality of some dugouts” can no longer be ignored, said Deepstate analysts.

Asked about the summer offensive at the St. Petersburg Forum last week, Putin said that Russia was not the goal of seizing SUMY, but I did not rule out it. “He said that Russian troops had already created a 8-12 km buffer zone.

A full -scale invasion of Ukraine in Russia, launched in February 2022, is now in the fourth year.

Large -scale Russian drone attacks on Ukrainian cities are increasing. In recent weeks, the capital of Kyiv has been aimed at records of drones that overwhelming air protection and causing deadly explosions.

The last rounds of negotiations between Ukraine and Russia have led to large exchanges of prisoners, but have not yet been able to make significant progress against ceasefire.

Earlier this week, NATO Secretary General Mark Ruthte said European and Canadian allies promised 35 billion euros in Ukraine ($ 30 billion; $ 41 billion).

But in Kiev, the nervousness of US President Donald Trump’s nervousness remains to the Ukrainian case and his changing connection with Zelensky.

However, on Wednesday, Trump said the meeting he held with Zelensky on the sidelines of the NATO summit in The Hague could not be more pleasant. ”

At a press conference, he told Myroslava Petsa BBC Ukraine that he was considering the possibility of putting Kiev in the US Air Defense missiles to defend against Russian strikes.

“We’re going to see if we can make some available. You know, it is very difficult to get,” he said.