Ukraine's military assesses Russia's threat to create buffer zone in north
Photo: Ukraine's military assesses Russian threats to create a buffer zone in the north (Getty Images)
Russia is trying to create a buffer zone in the Sumy and Kharkiv regions. However, they are unlikely to succeed, as this is not currently their priority on the front line, according to the RBC-Ukraine report.
According to Viktor Tregubov, spokesperson for the Joint Forces Task Force, one of the tasks Russian forces have been trying to accomplish for over a year and will continue to pursue this spring and summer is the creation of a 20-kilometer-deep buffer zone in the Sumy and Kharkiv regions.
"From the beginning, this was done supposedly to prevent Ukrainian forces from repeating the effect of the Kursk operation, so that Ukrainians would not cross over and attack Russian territory. This task has not been fulfilled. During all this time, they have only managed to create several points of penetration. But none of them reaches 20 kilometers, and this goal is unattainable for the Russians," he said.
It is worth noting that Russia’s Ministry of Defense periodically reports that its troops have entered another border settlement. Their efforts have intensified in recent months, although these actions look more like isolated incursions than a continuous zone of control.
The spokesperson emphasized that the Russian army will keep trying to carry out this task and will commit forces to it. However, there is virtually no risk that they will achieve any significant success during the spring-summer campaign.
"I do not think they themselves are counting on major success here. Moreover, this is not a priority for them right now. What is happening in the Donetsk region or, for example, in the Zaporizhzhia region is more important to them than any control zones in the Kharkiv region," Tregubov commented.
Buffer zone in the Sumy region
At the beginning of March, we reported that Russian forces had intensified activity along the border of the Sumy region. The enemy’s goal remains unchanged — to create a so-called buffer zone.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated that there are currently no risks to the Sumy region, despite the fact that Russia has not abandoned its plans to establish such a zone there.
Meanwhile, Russian troops have launched a spring-summer offensive in the Donetsk region. The main strike is focused on the Lyman direction, which opens the way toward Sloviansk and Kramatorsk.
The Russian forces are attempting to break through the so-called fortress belt of Ukraine’s defenses.
