The commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian armed forces, Gen. Oleksandr Syrskyi, ordered the rapid construction of defensive lines in the northeastern region of Sumy after Russian forces advanced toward the industrial region of Dnipropetrovsk.

Sumy is located on the border with Russia's Kursk region, where Ukrainian forces launched a daring operation to seize territory last year that Moscow managed to repel with the help of North Korean forces.

Kyiv claims that Russia, which invaded Ukraine more than three years ago, has already assembled 50,000 troops with the aim of advancing deeper into the Sumy region.

“The work continues, but it must be accelerated, given the requirements of modern warfare,” Oleksandr Syrskyi said after a working visit to Sumy, where he met with military representatives.

Syrsky said “anti-drone corridors” — often consisting of physical barriers such as nets — were needed to protect Ukrainian troops and logistics routes. He added that the speed at which this work was being carried out “needed to be significantly increased,” AFP reported.

Russian President Vladimir Putin threatened last week that his military forces could try to capture the city of Sumy, a regional center about 30 kilometers from the border.

Russian troops are advancing steadily along the stretched front line in Ukraine, but with significant losses.

The Defense Ministry in Moscow announced today that its forces had captured two more Ukrainian villages in the Donetsk region, which the Kremlin has claimed as part of Russia since late 2022.

The villages of Shevchenko and Novosergievka are located near the border with the Dnipropetrovsk region, where Russian forces are struggling to establish control for the first time since the invasion began in early 2022. | BGNES