‘Ukraine has halted Russia’s advance in Sumy region’

Kyiv: Ukrainian forces have halted Russia’s recent advance into the northern Sumy region and have stabilised the front line near the border with Russia, Ukraine’s top military commander said Thursday.

Col. Gen. Oleksandr Syrskyi, commander in chief of Ukraine’s armed forces, said that Ukrainian successes in Sumy have prevented Russia from deploying about 50,000 Russian troops, including elite airborne and marine brigades, to other areas of the front line.

His claim couldn’t be independently verified, and Russian officials made no immediate comment.

Russian forces have been slowly grinding forward at some points on the roughly 1,000-kilometre front line, though their incremental gains have been costly in terms of troop casualties and damaged armour. The outnumbered Ukrainian army has relied heavily on drones to keep the Russians back.

Months of US-led international efforts to stop the more than three years of war have failed.

Amid the hostilities, the two sides have continued swaps of prisoners of war agreed on during recent talks between their delegations in Istanbul. Russia’s Defence Ministry and Ukrainian authorities said another exchange took place on Thursday.

Ukraine’s coordination headquarters for POWs said the swap included injured soldiers and those with health complaints. The youngest is 24 and the oldest is 62, it said, adding that more exchanges are expected soon.