Updated: Ukraine repelled Russian attempt to cross into Sumy Oblast on Feb. 25, fighting continues, military says

Editor's note: The article was expanded with a statement from Dmytro Lyhkovii, a spokesperson for Ukraine's General Staff.

Russian forces attempted to cross the Russia-Ukraine border in Sumy Oblast near the village of Novenke on Feb. 25 but were repelled, Dmytro Lyhkovii, a spokesperson for Ukraine's General Staff, told the Interfax-Ukraine news agency on Feb. 28.

Moscow's troops have since then continued in attempts to carry out attacks in the area, Lykhovii said amid recent reports on Russian forces attempting to storm the border.

The spokesperson's comments follow the DeepState monitoring group marking Novenke as a contested area, suggesting that Russian forces crossed the border into Sumy Oblast. The village of Novenke lies just across the border, some 40 kilometers (25 miles) north of the regional center, Sumy.

Northeastern Sumy Oblast borders Russia's Kursk Oblast, where Ukrainian forces launched an incursion last summer to draw away Moscow's troops from Donbas and disrupt Russian plans for an offensive from the north.

"On Feb. 25, (Russia) stormed this section of the border (at Novenke) with forces of up to two mechanized units, crossed the state border of Ukraine, but was blocked and thrown back to the territory of the Russian Federation," Lykhovii told Interfax-Ukraine.

"Subsequently, Russian troops continue to attempt assault actions, now with infantry groups."

Andrii Kovalenko, head of the Center for Countering Disinformation, said that Russia has been carrying out infantry assaults near Novenke for several days, leading to localized skirmishes at the border.

Kovalenko denied that the attacks would mark the start of a new offensive as Russia does not have "neither the strength nor the means for this."

The Kyiv Independent could not verify the claims.

Ukraine launched a surprise cross-border incursion into Kursk Oblast in August 2024. After six months of fighting in the region, Russian troops have regained control of about 64% of the territory in the region, the Russian military claimed.

Russian casualties have reached nearly 40,000 in Kursk Oblast, including over 16,000 killed, Ukraine's General Staff reported on Feb. 6. Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi said last November that the incursion thwarted Russia's plans to invade Sumy Oblast in an attempt to create a "buffer zone" in the region.

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