Overview
- President Vladimir Putin announced the establishment of a security zone inside Ukrainian territory while speaking from a military command post and said the measure responds to Ukraine’s 2024–25 incursion into Russia’s Kursk region.
- Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov quantified the planned buffer at about 660 km and said roughly 70 percent of that area is under Russian control, while officials did not specify how deep the zone reaches into Ukraine.
- Russian leaders say the armed forces were ordered not only to push Ukrainian units out of Russian soil but also to create the contiguous buffer and that the operation is being carried out successfully.
- Moscow’s public declaration that the buffer is off limits to negotiations signals a harder Russian negotiating stance and raises legal and diplomatic questions about attempts to formalize territorial changes.
- Independent verification of the full extent and permanence of control inside Ukrainian territory is not provided in the reporting, and the measure would require Russian control of parts of Sumy and Kharkiv regions if implemented.