MOSCOW: Russia’s army said Wednesday it had captured another village in Ukraine’s Sumy region, the latest in a string of gains as Moscow seeks to establish what it calls a “buffer zone” inside Ukrainian territory.
Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered his troops to push across the border and into the region after they recaptured Russia’s own western Kursk region in April after a months-long Ukrainian offensive.
In a statement on Telegram, Russia’s defence ministry said its troops had taken control of the village of Kindrativka, around three kilometres (nearly two miles) from the border.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warned last month that Moscow was amassing some 50,000 troops for a fresh offensive around Sumy, the regional capital.
The city is around 25 kilometres south from where Russia has taken a string of villages in recent weeks and has come under increasing aerial attack.
A Russian rocket strike on Sumy on Tuesday killed four people, Ukrainian officials said.
