Reuters: Ukraine’s top general says Russia stepping up effort to attack Sumy region

As the winter is over, as well in Russia and Ukraine and conditions for military operations are improving, the Ukrainian army commander claims that Russia is on its way to a new offensive in the north of the country, the Sumy and Kharkov regions.

V Selensky, today after the meeting of the Coalition of the Willing” has made the same claim.

It became clear that Russia, after the experience made with the Ukrainian incursion into the Russian territory of Kursk, is building up a buffer zone on Ukrainian territory, in order to distance Ukrainian troops from the Russian border and by this mean to better protect its own territory from further Ukrainian incursions.

This may concern the northern and eastern parts of Ukraine along the border with Russia till the Lugansk Republic which is Russian annexed territory. The build-up of such a buffer zone is an important operation with a need of large personnel and material. It may give a hint on what Russia expect from a lasting peace deal.

The Kursk incursion of Ukraine did not bring Ukraine any advantage. Ukraine had huge losses in personnel and material. The loss of the Kursk settlements has devastating effects on Ukrainian moral. And now it will have to fend off Russia’s further advances into Ukraine for building up the buffer zone.