Ukraine has halted Russia's advance in Sumy Oblast, stabilizing the entrance line and blunting the momentum of Moscow's summer time offensive, Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi stated on June 26.
"Based mostly on the outcomes of Might and June, we are able to say that this 12 months's wave of the enemy's summer time offensive from Russian territory is faltering," Syrskyi stated, reporting that Russian troops within the northeastern border area had been stopped.
Moscow launched its new summer time marketing campaign in Might, aiming to push deeper into Ukraine's northeast and jap areas, disregarding Kyiv's requires an unconditional ceasefire.
Russian forces had made modest positive factors, occupying round 449 sq. kilometers (173 sq. miles) in Might, the very best month-to-month complete in 2025, in response to the open-source intelligence group DeepState.
In Sumy Oblast, nonetheless, the road of contact has stabilized. Syrskyi stated Ukrainian troops usually are not solely defending but in addition reclaiming floor utilizing lively protection ways.
"In sure areas, our items are liberating Ukrainian territory," he stated.
Syrskyi stated Ukrainian operations in Russia's Glushkovsky district had compelled Moscow to shift elite items, together with Airborne Forces and Marine Corps brigades, into defensive positions, undermining their offensive capabilities in Sumy.
"Within the North Slobozhansky and Kursk instructions, now we have as soon as once more pinned down about 50,000 Russian Armed Forces personnel," Syrskyi stated. He supplied no additional particulars about how Ukraine had achieved this.
Ukraine launched a cross-border offensive into Russia's Kursk Oblast in August 2024, initially capturing 1,300 sq. kilometers earlier than shedding most of that territory in a Russian counterattack earlier this 12 months.
Russian officers declared full management over the area on April 26, although the declare was later disputed by Kyiv and contradicted by Russia's personal native authorities.
Russia's broader offensive goals to grab the remaining administrative borders of Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts and carve out a buffer zone alongside the Sumy and Kharkiv frontiers.
Sumy Oblast, which borders Russia to the east, stays a strategic area. For the reason that starting of the full-scale invasion, it has confronted near-daily assaults.
The Kyiv IndependentTim Zadorozhnyy