Overview

• Russian forces hold four Sumy border villages—Novenke, Basivka, Veselivka and Zhuravka—after capturing them Monday.
• The offensive aims to carve out a Russian-declared buffer zone on Ukrainian soil.
• All residents of the occupied villages had been evacuated days earlier to avoid civilian casualties.
• Ukrainian troops are deploying precision artillery strikes to disrupt enemy positions and blunt further advances.
• Hostilities continue around several Sumy-area settlements and a cluster munition strike in Mykolaivka killed one resident and wounded another.