Russia said today it had captured another village in the northeastern Ukrainian region of Sumy, where its troops have been taking territory piecemeal for weeks in an attempt to establish a buffer zone to prevent incursions by Kiev.
The Russian Defense Ministry said Russian units had captured the village of Novomykolaivka, which is located about four kilometers from the Russian border and about 30 from Sumy, the regional capital.
"Units of the 'North' group advanced deep into the enemy's defenses and liberated the location," the ministry said.
For several weeks now, Russian troops have been reporting that they have captured other villages in the sector in the Sumy region.
The Kremlin says it wants to establish a "buffer zone" there to prevent Ukrainian forces from launching a new offensive against Russia, as they did in the Kursk region, which borders Sumy.
Ukrainian troops held an occupied part of the Kursk region for eight months before being driven out of the area by the Russian army, supported by a North Korean contingent.
Elsewhere on the front, Moscow also reported today that it had captured the village of Dovgenke, in the northeastern Kharkiv region.
The Russian army, faced with fewer and less well-equipped Ukrainian troops, regularly reports capturing new villages, which it says it is liberating.
Diplomatically, negotiations are at a standstill. Moscow is demanding that Kiev cede four entire regions (Kherson, Donetsk, Lugansk and Zaporizhia) in addition to Crimea, which was previously annexed, demands that Ukraine considers unacceptable.
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