Russia claims to capture Sumy Oblast border village
The Russian Defense Ministry claimed on March 29 that its troops had captured Veselivka, a village in Ukraine's Sumy Oblast at the border with Russia.
The Ukrainian military has not commented on the claims, which could not be independently verified. The Kyiv Independent has contacted military representatives for comment.
The news comes amid steady Russian attempts to cross the border in small groups and gain a foothold in the northeastern Ukrainian region.
President Volodymyr Zelensky also warned that Moscow is preparing to launch a large-scale offensive into Sumy Oblast and neighboring Kharkiv Oblast this spring.
Veselivka, a tiny settlement with a pre-war population of over 60 people, lies just across the border with Russia's Kursk Oblast, where the fighting continues despite recent rapid advances by Russian forces.
The village lies some 30 kilometers (18 miles) north of the regional center, Sumy.
DeepState, a Ukrainian group monitoring battlefield developments, marked parts of Veselivka as a "gray zone," denoting them as a contested area between Ukrainian and Russian forces.
Russian reconnaissance and sabotage groups have been intensifying efforts to penetrate into Sumy Oblast, focusing on other border settlements like Novenke and Zhuravka, Ukraine's State Border Guard Service previously said.
The development follows a Russian counterattack in Kursk Oblast launched in early March, which saw Ukraine lose most of its positions in the Russian region, including the town of Sudzha.
Kyiv launched the Kursk incursion last August to divert Russian troops fighting in Ukraine's east and to disrupt Russian plans for a new offensive in Sumy Oblast.
Martin Fornusek
