Russian forces released an offending into northeastern Ukraines Sumy and Kharkiv regions a number of days back, Ukraines commander in chief General Oleksandr Syrsky said in an interviewpublished Wednesday.Syrskys remarks come nearly a month after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky declared that Russia wasreadying a new attack on the Sumy area, which surrounds Russias Kursk region.I can state that the president is dead-on and this [Russian] offensive [in the Sumy and Kharkiv areas] has in fact currently begun, Syrsky informed the Ukrainian news site Left Bank.For a number of days now, almost a week, weve been seeing almost a doubling of the variety of enemy offensive actions in all major locations, he added.Syrsky declared Russia was seeking to develop a buffer zone in the Kharkiv and Sumy areas, as well as in northern Ukraines Chernihiv region.President Vladimir Putin proposed developing a so-called buffer zone in the Sumy area to protect the Kursk area from future attacks throughout his see there last month.The proposition was followed by reports of a potential Russian offensive, with minor Russian attacks into the Sumy region.Ukraine introduced a surprise attack into the Kursk region in August, but a Russian counteroffensive in current months has gradually chipped away at its hold over swaths of territory.The most current offensive is not the first time Russia has set its sights on Ukraines Sumy region.
Russian soldiers pressed into the region during the early weeks of the full-scale invasion in February 2022.
Regardless of preliminary successes, Russian forcesfailed to develop control due to Ukrainian resistance, and the Kremlin was required towithdraw by early April 2022 as part of its broader retreat from northern Ukraine.