Ukraine halts Russian troops' advance in Sumy region, Zelensky says
Ukrainian forces have stopped Russian troops advancing in the northeastern Sumy region and are now battling along the border to regain control, President Volodymyr Zelensky said.
In remarks released for publication by his office on Saturday, Zelensky said that Moscow has amassed about 53,000 troops in the direction of Sumy.
'We are levelling the position. The fighting there is along the border. You should understand that the enemy has been stopped there. And the maximum depth at which the fighting takes place is 7km from the border,' Zelensky said.
Battlefield reports could not be verified.
Russia's troops have been focusing their assaults in the eastern Donetsk region, but since the start of the month they have intensified their attacks in the north-east, announcing plans to create a so-called 'buffer zone' in the Sumy and Kharkiv regions.
The Russian war in Ukraine is in its fourth year, but it has intensified in recent weeks.
Ukraine conducted an audacious drone attack that took out multiple aircraft inside Russia and also hit the bridge connecting Russia to the annexed Crimean peninsula using underwater explosives.
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