A senior Ukrainian commander has said that Russian troops could be getting ready for an imminent large-scale offensive in Sumy province, based on a rise in attacks against Ukraine’s north-eastern border. General Oleksandr Syrskyi said that Ukrainian troops were actively conducting counteroffensive and defense operations to create a buffer zone within Russian-controlled territory.
“Ours continue to carry out a defensive operation so that the enemy does not dig deep into the Ukrainian land,” Syrskyi posted on Facebook.
The warning came after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s statement the previous day that Russian President Vladimir Putin was gearing up for another attack on Sumy and Kharkiv regions.
“I can say Putin is attempting to gain time by getting ready to carry out an offensive in spring,” Zelenskyy explained in a meeting. He claimed that intelligence in Ukraine has found indications that an attack would soon take place and that Ukrainian intelligence had revealed this information to partner countries. In his assertion, Putin had initially planned the launch of such an offensive eight months ago, but was derailed as Ukraine was on operations in the Kursk area of Russia.
Zelenskyy rejected the idea of Russia looking for peace, saying that Putin was simply buying time.
Sumy and Kharkiv, the two border states with Russia, have been battlegrounds since Russia’s all-out invasion started in 2022. Although Russia tried a twin-front attack on Kharkiv last May, Ukraine pushed the attack back in early June.
At the same time, the border guards of Ukraine corroborated on Wednesday that Russian forces were making cross-border incursions into the Sumy region. Zelenskyy had previously raised an alarm over Russian troop movements along the northeastern border this month, promising to take countermeasures.
