Russian Forces Are Closing In on Sumy Three Years After Retreating

Reports indicate that Russian forces are now just 29 kilometers from the city of Sumy—three years after Ukraine pushed them out of the country’s north. At the same time, Russia continues its offensive in the east, advancing through areas that carry symbolic weight.

Independent monitors have confirmed the Kremlin’s claim of recapturing the village of Loknia, which Ukraine liberated along with the rest of Sumy region during its spring counteroffensive in 2022. With every kilometer gained toward Sumy, Russian troops are increasingly able to target the regional capital with FPV drones and guided glide bombs.

This is not the first settlement in the region to fall back under Russian control in recent weeks.

The city of Sumy, located 200 miles northeast of Kyiv, was never captured in 2022. But today, Russian units are drawing increasingly close to the regional capital.

On May 31st, the head of the regional administration, Oleh Hryhoriev, announced the mandatory evacuation of 11 more villages, bringing the total number of evacuated settlements in Sumy region to 213.

On Sunday, Russia’s Ministry of Defence also claimed that its forces had reached the western edge of Donetsk region and launched an offensive into neighbouring Dnipropetrovsk region—for the first time in three years of full-scale war.

A spokesperson for Ukraine’s southern military command confirmed: "The enemy has not abandoned its attempts to break into Dnipropetrovsk region. Our troops are holding the line with courage and professionalism, disrupting the invaders’ plans. This work does not stop for a single moment."

Should Russian forces manage to gain a foothold in the industrial Dnipropetrovsk region, it would mark both a symbolic and strategic defeat for Kyiv—especially in the wake of the recent morale-boosting operation "Spiderweb", in which Ukrainian drones struck Russia’s strategic bombers capable of carrying nuclear weapons deep inside enemy territory.

The Kremlin declared its "annexation" of Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia regions back in 2022, despite never achieving full control over any of them. Meanwhile, Dnipro—the administrative capital of Dnipropetrovsk—has come under regular fire since the very start of the invasion.

According to independent monitors, Russia is also advancing on the city of Kostyantynivka in Donetsk region from multiple directions. Since February 2022, when the full-scale invasion began, the city has served as a critical logistical hub for Ukrainian forces. A Ukrainian military spokesperson, Dmytro Zaporozhets, confirmed that Russian troops are attempting to "establish a bridgehead for an attack" on Kostyantynivka.

Ukrainian cities are bracing for renewed night-time aerial assaults. According to U.S. officials, Moscow has likely not yet fully responded to Monday’s 117-drone strike carried out during operation "Spiderweb", which hit military targets deep inside Russia.

In the early hours of Friday, June 7th, Russia launched one of its most intense barrages since the war began—firing 452 drones and 45 missiles at Ukrainian cities and infrastructure. U.S. officials believe another strike may follow in the coming days—"asymmetric," as one Reuters source described it.

Amid intensifying hostilities, even the limited progress in negotiations between the two sides—held in Istanbul—has come under threat. A large-scale prisoner and body exchange scheduled for Monday was cast into doubt after both parties accused each other of breaching the terms of the deal.

Under the agreement, both sides were to release all wounded personnel and service members under the age of 25—over a thousand individuals from each side. Russia also pledged to return the remains of 6,000 fallen Ukrainian soldiers.

The Kremlin, however, accused Kyiv of failing to appear at the border to receive the bodies and of stalling preparations for the exchange. According to Russian officials, the delivery of remains to the line of contact would continue.

The Ukrainian side, for its part, said that Russia had violated the terms by including individuals in the swap list who did not meet the agreed criteria, and accused Moscow of "playing dirty."

"The Ukrainian side has unexpectedly postponed both the reception of the bodies and the exchange of prisoners indefinitely," wrote Vladimir Medinsky, head of the Russian delegation, on social media.

Ukraine’s Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War confirmed that no new date had been set for the exchange: "Unfortunately, instead of a constructive dialogue, we are once again faced with manipulation. We urge the Russian side to stop playing dirty and to return to implementing the agreements so we can bring our people home as soon as possible."