Ukraine War: Selenskyj: 50,000 Russian soldiers on the border with Sumy

According to the Ukrainian President Wolodymyr Selenskyj, Russia has raised around 50,000 soldiers for a possible move to the Sumy region in the northeast of Ukraine. The Ukrainian army tries to avert an attack, including through its actions in the neighboring Russian area of ​​Kursk, Selenskyj said in Kiev, as the state Ukrainian news agency Ukrinform reported.

The aim of a Russian move on Sumy could be to set up a buffer zone on the Ukrainian side, the president suspected. However, the Russian troops lacked these soldiers in other places on the front, for example at Pokrowsk in Donbass. Selenskyj’s press conference took place on Tuesday. The Ukrainian media only published the content today when the president was already on the way to Berlin.

Russia already annexed the Ukrainian Peninsula Crimea in 2014. In autumn 2022, the four East Ukrainian regions of Cherson, Donetsk, Luhansk and Saporischschja followed, although Moscow only partially checked these areas. In contrast to these regions, the Kremlin has so far officially raised no claims on Sumy. Most recently, President Vladimir Putin jokingly spoke about the occupation of Sumy at a meeting with regional and local officers of the West Russian area.