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Vira Kravchuk


Zelenskyy: 50,000 Russian troops mass near Sumy bordering Russia’s Kursk for new offensive

The Ukrainian president stated that Moscow aims to establish a 10-km (6 miles) “buffer zone” inside Ukrainian territory, though he expressed doubt about Russian capabilities to achieve this strategic objective.
Ukraine's northeastern Sumy Oblast borders Russia's Kursk Oblast.
Ukraine’s northeastern Sumy Oblast borders Russia’s Kursk Oblast. Image: France 24
Zelenskyy: 50,000 Russian troops mass near Sumy bordering Russia’s Kursk for new offensive

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced that Russian forces are amassing more than 50,000 troops in the northeastern Sumy direction, aiming to establish a “buffer zone,” while conducting continuous offensive operations along the front lines.

Sumy Oblast, located near the Russian border and relatively close to Russia’s Kursk Oblast, is currently a frontline area heavily shelled by the Russian forces. In August 2024, Ukrainian troops launched an incursion into Kursk from the Sumy Oblast, capturing around 1,000 square km (386 square miles) and 28 settlements. However, by early 2025, Russian counterattacks, supported by North Korean troops, almost completely regained the lost territory. The Kursk offensive helped prevent Russia from launching a major offensive in Sumy and Kharkiv oblasts by forcing Moscow to focus on defending Kursk rather than advancing deeper into Ukrainian territory.
As of May 2025, Zelenskyy revealed that Russia positioned its “largest, strongest forces” in the Kursk direction to completely expel Ukrainian troops and prepare for offensive actions into Sumy Oblast. 

“They [Russians] are now accumulating troops in the Sumy direction. More than 50,000. We understand this. But we have successes there. Today [27 May] we took, for example, 8 prisoners in the Tyotkino area [a settlement in Russia’s Kursk Oblast],” Zelenskyy said during a conversation with journalists on 27 May, Interfax-Ukraine reports.

The Ukrainian leader indicated that despite constant Russian attacks, Moscow has been unable to execute a major breakthrough operation on the frontline.

Moscow aims to establish what officials term a “buffer zone” extending 10 kilometers (6 miles) into Ukrainian territory, though Zelenskyy expressed doubt about Russian capabilities to achieve this goal.

He indicated that Russian objectives also include crossing into eastern Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, and capturing the city of Pokrovsk in Donetsk Oblast, though these efforts have not succeeded.

Previously, Russian sources circulated claims that the Russian forces had crossed into the Dnipropetrovsk Oblast but the Ukrainian side emphasized that its defenses repelled the attack, killing all invading Russian soldiers.

However, Zelenskyy noted that the Russians cannot completely “withdraw all their troops from the Pokrovsk direction” and transfer them to Sumy Oblast. 

 “Just as they could not transfer all troops to the Pokrovsk direction to capture Pokrovsk,” he stated, highlighting the multi-front nature of the conflict.

The Institute for the Study of War (ISW) corroborated the strategic shift in its 26 May report, noting Russian force transfers from Donetsk to Sumy Oblast as evidence of changing offensive priorities.

The ISW also analyzed that Russia’s ambitions to establish a buffer zone in Ukraine’s Sumy Oblast are unlikely to succeed in the near future. Despite recent Russian cross-border attacks and attempts to seize territory in the region, Russian forces lack the necessary manpower and resources to achieve significant breakthroughs or hold substantial territory. Ukrainian defenses remain strong, and the villages targeted by Russian advances are mostly empty or evacuated, limiting the strategic value of these operations.

In March 2025, Zelenskyy predicted renewed Russian spring offensives targeting Sumy and Kharkiv oblasts, with Armed Forces Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi confirming in April that such operations had commenced.

In early May, Sumy regional administration head Mykhailo Melnyk urged residents of border towns to evacuate to safer locations amid escalating attacks and threats of a new offensive. 

Russian President Vladimir Putin also publicly discussed establishing a “security buffer zone” along the Ukrainian border, specifically referencing the situation in Kursk, Belgorod, and Bryansk regions that border northern Ukraine.

According to regional officials, four settlements in Sumy Oblast currently remain under Russian occupation, including Novenke, Basivka, Veselivka, and Zhuravka.