Today, there are many important updates from the Sumy direction.
Here along the Sumy border, Ukrainian forces lured Russian units into counterattacks and then traced their movements back to hidden staging grounds across Kursk. With their positions exposed, HIMARS batteries struck hard, delivering devastating blows to troop concentrations, command posts, and infrastructure critical to Russia’s planned offensive.
Over 50,000 Russian troops have been deployed to the Kursk region along the northern border with Sumy, signaling clear preparations for a full-scale offensive.
Ukrainian commanders in the area have confirmed the buildup, noting that these forces are being readied for large-scale operations aimed at breaching the Sumy region’s defenses. The massive Russian force concentration here underscores their conviction that they can still achieve victory through overwhelming manpower and renewed offensives.
The offensive that hunted its own hunters
To neutralize this threat, Ukrainians needed to eliminate this large force concentration before they had the opportunity to move to the front line. To accomplish this, Ukrainians launched attacks on the eastern flank of Tyotkino to force a Russian redeployment and draw forces away from the town itself.
By threatening a potential outflank, they put pressure on Russian positions while conducting swift rotations to keep fresh troops and equipment on the front line. This way, Ukrainians also improve their defensive position against Russian pressure across this section of the front, while their main offensive units threaten a two-pronged assault on Tyotkino.
Combat footage from the area shows Ukrainian armored vehicles rotating efficiently — one withdrawing to resupply, while another engages Russian positions, ensuring constant pressure on enemy lines. This tactic prevents Russian forces from massing at strong points and forces them into improvised defensive positions in open terrain.
As Russian troops rushed forward to plug gaps and prevent a Ukrainian breakthrough, many were eliminated by FPV drone strikes. Even attempts to move in small groups of two or three failed to evade detection as drones continued targeting them with precision.
Russia moved, Ukraine mapped, HIMARS delivered
However, most importantly, Ukrainians traced these movements, revealing the locations of Russian troop concentrations and command posts, opening the door for devastating Ukrainian strikes. This critical intelligence allowed HIMARS crews to lock in their targets and strike several Russian military bases simultaneously.
Footage confirms that Ukraine hit two Russian deployment points in Lgov and Rylsk, as local residents report large numbers of casualties among Russian soldiers being taken away in the aftermath. Russians were also spotted gathering their forces in an abandoned hospital building, as the strike completely devastated the building and any Russian soldiers inside.
Ukrainians also targeted Russian command posts to disrupt the Russian offensive preparations and inflict severe losses. Moreover, as reported previously, one of the victims of the recent strikes was the deputy commander of the 155th Marine Brigade, who was reportedly eliminated by a precision strike on his command post in Rylsk.
From Russia’s damned-if-you-do to Kyiv’s damned-if-you-don’t trap
These strikes show that Ukrainians are already draining Russian reserves even before they can launch their offensive. They are disrupting Russian preparations and inflicting losses, further limiting what they can achieve.
If Russians redeploy their forces further to the rear to try and stay undetected, these forces will not be able to respond quickly to sudden breakthroughs or Ukrainian assaults. This gives Russians a painstakingly tough dilemma. Either Russians will have to station their forces much further to the rear, or they must take the blows dealt to them by Ukrainian strike teams, betting on their numbers being enough to still make a breakthrough despite the heavy damage.
Overall, the Ukrainians managed to lure the Russians to expose their forces in the open, to discover their critical infrastructure, resulting in a series of devastating precision strikes. Intensification of Ukrainian assaults in the Tyotkyne incursion will inevitably leave Russians with no other option but to deploy more forces to this area, exposing further force concentration points to Ukrainian observation and strike teams. As Ukrainians continue to scout behind Russian lines, additional strikes seem inevitable.
Furthermore, as Russians suffer logistical strains by deploying and concentrating so many troops, any movement will be nearly impossible to hide.
In our daily frontline report, we pair up with the military blogger Reporting from Ukraine to keep you informed about what is happening on the battlefield in the Russo-Ukrainian war.