Russia pushes into Ukraine’s Sumy

Russia said on Sunday that its troops had taken the village of Basivka in Ukraine’s Sumy region, and were battering Ukrainian forces at a host of settlements in the area.

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More than two years after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Kyiv sent thousands of troops over the border into Russia’s Kursk region in August last year though a Russian offensive over recent months has pushed most of Ukrainian forces out of Kursk.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly suggested that Russian forces carve out a buffer zone along the border.

Russia’s defence ministry said that it had taken the village of Basivka, just over the border from Sudzha, and had struck Ukrainian forces at 12 other points in the Sumy region.

It said that Russia had defeated Ukrainian units in the Russian settlements of Gornal, Guevo, and Oleshnya.

The pro-Ukrainian DeepState war map shows Ukraine in control of about 63 square kilometres (24 square miles) of Russian territory, down from as much as 1,400 square kilometres claimed by Kyiv last year.

Ukraine will send a team to Washington next week to begin negotiations on a new draft of a deal that would give the US access to Ukraine’s valuable mineral resources, Economy Minister Yuliia Svyrydenko said. “The new draft agreement from the US shows that the intention to create a fund or jointly invest remains,” Svyrydenko said on Saturday.