Nearly 56,000 residents evacuated from Sumy Oblast, additional efforts ongoing, governor says

Nearly 56,000 residents have been evacuated from Sumy Oblast as efforts are ongoing to relocate more residents under mandatory evacuation orders, Oleh Hryhorov, the governor of Sumy Oblast said on May 19.

Sumy Oblast, located on Ukraine's northeast border with Russia, is subject to daily attacks, and is situated just across from Russia's Kursk Oblast - the region subject to Ukraine's ongoing incursion.

In recent months, Russian troops have significantly increased the use of guided aerial bombs as well as attack drones near the border areas of Sumy Oblast. Most recently, Russia has been deploying small assault groups to infiltrate the region in a bid to expand the front line.

Currently, over 86,000 residents are subject to mandatory evacuation orders in the region, with approximately 65% of the population having already evacuated, Hryhorov told Suspilne Sumy. A total of 2,400 residents were evacuated in the last week, the governor added.

The evacuations continue after local authorities in September 2024 ordered mandatory evacuation of children accompanied by their parents from an expanded area within the 10-kilometer zone bordering Russia.

All residents within the 10-kilometer zone bordering Russia have already been evacuated entirely, the military administration noted.

The additional evacuations come following a Russian attack on a civilian bus in Bilopillia, Sumy Oblast in the early morning of May 17, which killed nine people and injuring seven more.

Hryhorov said that a total of 13 residents were killed last week in Russian attacks on the region.

While Ukraine presses for an unconditional ceasefire, in line with proposals from the U.S., Russia continues to reject the terms.

On May 19, U.S. President Donald Trump held a phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin in which Putin expressed readiness to prepare to negotiate a "memorandum regarding a potential future peace treaty," while again rejecting a 30-day ceasefire.

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The Kyiv IndependentAndrea Januta