Zelenskyy: Ukraine completely thwarted Russia's offensive on Sumy

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that the Russian offensive on Sumy was completely thwarted by the Defense Forces. This statement was made by the head of state made after the report of the commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Oleksandr Syrskyi at a meeting of the Staff.

"There are results in Sumy region: as of today, we can state that the Russian offensive on Sumy has been completely thwarted by our forces," the head of state said.

According to him, the fighting in the Sumy region border area is still ongoing, but the Russian group in this area "has lost its offensive capabilities as a result of the losses suffered."

"We also continue to actively counter Russian assault activity in Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia regions. I am grateful to all our soldiers, sergeants and officers who are performing combat missions in the respective areas and inflicting significant losses on the Russians," the president added.

The Ukrainian analytical project Deepstate records the situation in the region as follows: the occupiers control 210.46 square kilometers in the north of Sumy region, as well as small areas of 0.67 square kilometers and 3.11 square kilometers.

The last time experts recorded a change in the front line in this area was on September 5, when Russians occupied 6.84 square kilometers in the village of Yunakivka (dotted and shaded on the screenshot below). Deepstate shows the latest advance of Ukrainian defenders on August 23; according to analysts, the Defense Forces liberated a total of 13.88 square kilometers in the region. Changes to the map of this project are delayed.

• The acting mayor of Sumy said LIGA.net that currently no need to evacuate residents, and displaced persons from border communities move to the regional center.