Russia seizes Ukrainian border villages as massive bombing campaign slows
Russian forces have taken four border villages in Ukraine's north-eastern Sumy region, a local official has said, days after Russian President Vladimir Putin said he had issued an order to establish a buffer zone along the border.
Meanwhile, a Russian bombing campaign that had escalated in recent days slowed overnight as far fewer Russian drones targeted Ukrainian towns and cities.
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Moscow's invasion has shown no signs of stopping despite months of intense US-led efforts to secure a ceasefire and get traction for peace talks.
Since Russian and Ukrainian delegations met in Turkey earlier this month for their first direct talks in three years, a large prisoner exchange has been the only tangible outcome, but negotiations have brought no significant breakthrough.
Homes in Korostyshiv, in the Zhytomyr region of Ukraine, pictured on Sunday after being destroyed by a Russian strike (Evgeniy Maloletka/AP)
Between Friday and Sunday, Russia launched around 900 drones at Ukraine, officials said, amid a spate of large-scale bombardments. On Sunday night, Russia launched its biggest drone attack of the three-year war against Ukraine, firing 355 drones.
From Monday to Tuesday, Russia fired 60 drones at Ukraine, the Ukrainian air force said on Tuesday.
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Russia's ministry of defence claimed its air defences had downed 99 Ukrainian drones overnight over seven Russian regions.
In Sumy, Russian forces are trying to advance deeper after capturing villages, Oleh Hryhorov, head of the Sumy regional military administration, said in a statement.
Ukrainian forces are endeavouring to hold the line, he said.
Residents of the captured villages were evacuated earlier, and there was no immediate threat to civilians, Mr Hryhorov said.
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Russian President Vladimir Putin said he had issued an order to establish a buffer zone along the border (Alexander Kazakov/Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)
Mr Putin visited the Kursk region last week for the first time since Moscow claimed that it had driven Ukrainian forces out of the area last month.
Kyiv officials have denied the claim. Ukraine seized a pocket of land in Kursk last August.
The long border remains vulnerable to Ukrainian incursions, Mr Putin said.
He said he told the Russian military to create a 'security buffer zone' along the border but provided no public details of where the proposed zone would be or how far it would stretch.
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Mr Putin said a year ago that a Russian offensive at the time aimed to create a buffer zone in Ukraine's north-eastern Kharkiv region. That could have helped protect Russia's Belgorod border region, where frequent Ukrainian attacks have embarrassed the Kremlin.
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