Demchenko: Russians trying to gain foothold near Novenke and Zhuravka in Sumy region

Andriy Demchenko Photo: ukrinform.ua

Russians are trying to accumulate and gain a foothold in the area of Novenke and Zhuravka villages in Sumy region in order to surround the Ukrainian Defense Forces, which are conducting an operation in Kursk region, or to cut off their logistics routes.

According to Ukrinform, this was stated on television by the spokesman for the State Border Guard Service, Andriy Demchenko.

“The length of the border within Sumy region on the border with Russia is almost 530 km. And most of all, citizens are interested in the situation in the direction of two settlements, namely Novenke and Zhuravka. Of course, the enemy has been trying to take certain actions there lately in order to expand the area of active hostilities on the territory of Ukraine. To do this, he uses small assault groups that try to enter our territory. Most likely, the enemy is trying to surround the Ukrainian Defense Forces in the Kursk region, because in fact the direction of these settlements is the edge of the territory within Kursk region where the Ukrainian military are located and conducting their operation. Or in this way [the enemy is trying to] to cut off logistics routes,” he said.

Demchenko assured that there is no significant group of Russians in Sumy region. These are small assault groups of up to five people.

“In some cases, we see that these groups are also trying to use ATVs, because their task is to move as quickly and deeply as possible through the territory of Ukraine in order to gain a foothold, wait for some reinforcements, accumulate, and, in fact, expand the area of active hostilities,” he added.

The spokesman emphasized that the units of the State Border Guard Service and the Armed Forces are preventing the enemy from gaining a foothold in the territory.