Russia captures village of Loknia in Sumy Oblast, monitoring group says

Russian forces have occupied the village of Loknia in Ukraine’s Sumy Oblast, the open-source battlefield monitoring group DeepState reported on June 8.

Located roughly 30 kilometers (some 18 miles) north of the city of Sumy, Loknia lies near the Russian border in a strategically exposed area.

While Russia’s Defense Ministry claimed control over the village on May 24, DeepState’s latest assessment marks the first independent confirmation of the development.

Ukraine’s General Staff has not yet commented on the matter.

Sumy Oblast, which borders Russia and three other Ukrainian oblasts — Chernihiv, Poltava, and Kharkiv — has seen escalating attacks in recent weeks as Russia intensifies cross-border operations.

Russian advances into Sumy have gained momentum since Ukrainian forces withdrew from most of their foothold in Russia’s Kursk Oblast in March.

In May Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered his military to create a so-called “security buffer zone” along the border with Ukraine, while President Volodymyr Zelensky said on May 28 that Moscow had massed 50,000 troops near Sumy.

The situation has forced widespread evacuations. On May 31, regional Governor Oleh Hryhorov announced mandatory evacuation orders for 11 more villages due to intensifying attacks, bringing the total number of evacuated settlements in Sumy Oblast to 213.

As 50,000 Russian troops amass, Ukraine’s Sumy Oblast braces for potential large-scale offensive

Reports of an imminent Russian summer offensive and troop build ups on Ukraine’s border are raising alarms in Sumy Oblast and fears that a large-scale assault could be on the horizon. Russian President Vladimir Putin on May 22 said he had ordered his military to create a “security buffer zone”

The Kyiv IndependentAsami Terajima