Russia trying to gain foothold in Ukraine’s Sumy region, border guard says

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KYIV (Reuters) – Russian forces are attempting to create an active fighting zone in Ukraine’s northeastern region of Sumy, across the border from Russia’s Kursk region, Ukraine’s border guard spokesman said on Monday.

Russian forces have stepped up their pressure on Ukrainian troops holding parts of Kursk seven months after a cross-border assault that Kyiv launched in part to gain a bargaining chip in possible peace negotiations.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy travels to Saudi Arabia on Monday ahead of talks between Ukrainian and U.S. officials on ending the war with Russia.

“We have recorded that in the direction of Novenke, the enemy is still trying to create a zone of active hostilities on the territory of Ukraine, trying to gain a foothold there,” border guard spokesman Andriy Demchenko told Ukrainian national television.

“These are small assault groups, but such groups of several people are trying to enter our territory to accumulate and to later move deeper into the territory of Ukraine, including, most likely, to cut off logistical routes.”

Border guards were repelling the attacks using artillery and other means to prevent accumulation of forces and any expansion of the zone of active hostilities, Demchenko said.

Ukraine’s general staff said on Monday that Ukrainian forces had repelled 27 attacks Russian forces in the Kursk region over the past day.

The Russian defence ministry said on Sunday that its forces had recaptured three more settlements in the Kursk region, amid reports from experts and military bloggers that Ukrainian forces faced the threat of encirclement and supply line challenges.

(Reporting by Anastasiia Malenko; Editing by Aidan Lewis)