"It looks more like a provocation". Ukrainian Armed Forces comment on the situation in Sumy region

In the village of Hrabovske, Sumy region, there are battles with the Russian occupiers, reported Grouping of the Joint Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Later, the military commented LIGA.net what could be Russia's actions in the border region.

"Update on the attempted breakthrough of the occupier's troops in Sumy region. Fighting is currently underway in the village of Hrabovske. Ukrainian defenders are making efforts to drive the occupiers to Russian territory," the statement reads.

The military added that "despite some reports in the media," there are no Russians in the neighboring village of Ryasne.

UPDATED. LIGA.net asked Viktor Tregubov, a spokesman for the Joint Forces Group, whether this is a new direction of the Russian offensive or a localized action or provocation.

"It looks more like a provocation," he replied.

The Ukrainian analytical project Deepstate records a part of Hrabove and the area near it in the gray zone. This means that active hostilities are taking place there, and it is not known exactly who controls the area. The researchers also confirm that Ryasne is under Ukrainian control.

Hrabovske is located on a different part of the borderlands of Sumy region than the plot, which Russia managed to occupy in the spring of 2025 (the second map below shows the territory colored in red).

Earlier, Dmytro Lykhoviy, an officer of the Main Communications Department of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, commented to Ukrainska Pravda confirmed that the occupiers had crossed the border and forcibly removed more than 50 civilians from Hrabovske. At the same time, he reported that the settlement had been captured by the occupiers.

Among the illegally deported people are mostly older men and women (one of them is 89 years old), almost all of whom had previously refused to be evacuated, Lykhoviy noted.

"According to preliminary information, on December 18, members of the Russian Armed Forces illegally detained about 50 civilians – residents of the village of Hrabovske, Sumy region, held them without access to communication and proper conditions, and on December 20 forcibly took them to the territory of the Russian Federation." wrote later the Verkhovna Rada commissioner for Human Rights Dmytro Lubinets.

The official noted that he had appealed to the ombudsman of the aggressor country, Tetiana Moskalkova, with a request to provide Ukraine with information on the whereabouts of its illegally deported citizens, to inform them of the conditions in which they are being held and what their priority needs are, and to "take measures to ensure their immediate return to Ukraine."

The commissioner also sent a letter to the International Committee of the Red Cross.

Among other things, Lubinets called on Ukrainian citizens to evacuate from the war zone.

• Earlier, about the forced removal of people from Hrabovske said village headman. According to her, there were no children among them.