Officials in Ukraine’s Sumy region, which borders Russia, issued an emergency evacuation order on Saturday for 11 villages following intensified shelling.
The Sumy regional administration stated:
“This decision was made due to the ongoing threat to civilian lives from bombardments in border communities.”
In a related development, Russia’s Defense Ministry claimed its forces have taken control of Vodolahi (called Vodolahy in Ukrainian), another village in Sumy.
In recent weeks, Russia has asserted control over multiple villages in northeastern Ukraine, while Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy revealed this week that Moscow has amassed over 50,000 troops near the border, signaling a potential new assault.
Andriy Demchenko, the spokesperson for Ukraine’s Border Guard Service, said on Thursday that Russia is prepared to launch an “assault” on Sumy. He noted that the number of Russian troops has been increasing since Moscow’s forces clashed with Ukrainian soldiers who entered the Russian border in the Kursk region last year.
Russia has recently taken control of almost the entire territory of Kursk. Since launching a full-scale invasion in February 2022, Russia has seized control of about 20 percent of Ukraine’s territory. The ongoing conflict has resulted in the deaths of tens of thousands of soldiers and civilians on both sides.
Washington has been leading diplomatic efforts to broker a ceasefire, but both Kyiv and Moscow have accused each other of not wanting peace. Following talks on May 16, the Kremlin on Monday proposed further negotiations in Istanbul.
Kyiv has not yet stated whether it will participate in the Istanbul meeting and is demanding that Moscow immediately halt its attacks and agree to a ceasefire.
