"The Russians won't be able to get what they want here'

As fierce battles continue to rage around the Kharkiv region, Sumy, close to Ukraine's border with Russia, is braced for its own assault by Moscow's troops

- Askold Krushelnycky

The city of Sumy is about 100 miles north of Kharkiv, but a similar distance from the Russian border. Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky and his military and intelligence chiefs – as well as Western intelligence – believe it could be the next target for Russian forces to attack. 

Earlier this month, Moscow launched an attack against the Kharkiv region and swiftly took a string of villages. Battles are still raging as Ukrainian forces desperately try to prevent Russia’s artillery coming within range of the area's capital, Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city.

Zelensky has said Kyiv’s forces have secured “combat control” of areas where Russian troops entered across the border into Ukraine, although Moscow claims its forces are still in control of some areas.

Moscow’s forces have stepped up attacks, including small-scale incursions by commando units, along the Sumy region’s border areas and those of the neighbouring Chernihiv region to the west. They attacked the Sumy region 108 times in 25 separate attacks in a single day last week. Targeted settlements included Velyka Pysarivka, Bilopillia, Yunakivka, Khotin, Krasnopillia, Druzhkivka, Seredyna-Buda, Vorozhba and Esman, with some 1,500 people evacuated.

Russia has also continued to strike at targets in the Kharkiv region, destroying civilian buildings, trains and railway tracks. Authorities say more than 11,000 people have been evacuated from towns and villages in the region since Russia launched its assault on 10 May.