Zelenskiy: Ukrainian troops advance in Sumy, repel Russian push in Donetsk

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy announced on Sunday that Ukrainian forces have made progress in the border areas of the northern Sumy region, where Russian troops have long attempted to gain a foothold. In his nightly video address, he cited Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi, who reported “good results” as Ukrainian units advanced closer to the state border.

The development comes after Moscow claimed gains in central Dnipropetrovsk, though Ukrainian officials dispute the scale of progress. Russia has pursued a slow advance across eastern Ukraine, declaring captured villages almost daily, particularly in Donetsk and Kharkiv. While Moscow has annexed Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson, it has yet to fully control Dnipropetrovsk, where clashes continue near its administrative boundaries.

Zelenskiy highlighted heavy Russian losses near Kupiansk in the Kharkiv region, which has been under sustained assault for months. He also noted ongoing Ukrainian resistance near Dobropillia, close to Pokrovsk — one of Russia’s main objectives in Donetsk. “It is important that Russian assaults are being repelled by our boys,” Zelenskiy said.

Meanwhile, Denis Pushilin, the Kremlin-installed head of Russian-controlled Donetsk areas, claimed Russian troops were pressing a “pincer movement” around villages near Pokrovsk.

Since Ukrainian forces pushed Russia back from its own Kursk region earlier this year, Moscow has attempted to create what it calls a “buffer zone” in Sumy, with frequent shelling of nearby towns, including the city of Sumy itself.