After almost sweeping off Ukrainian forces from Russia's Kursk region earlier this year, Russian soldiers are now crossing the border in the opposite direction, heading towards Sumy.
With about 50,000 soldiers deployed in the area, Russia is overwhelming the Ukrainian army with a ratio of about 3 to 1.
Their main strategy is to win by a large margin, which is a waste of our forces, said Ukrainian military Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskiy.
Russia's offensive towards Sumy comes as Ukrainian and Russian officials continue peace talks in Turkey. However, in recent weeks, Moscow has increased attacks by missiles and drones on Ukrainian cities.
Most recently, on the night of June 29, Ukraine lost an F-16 fighter jet and pilots in Russia's largest fire attack since the beginning of the conflict.
According to General Syrskiy, over the past year, the front line has been extended by more than 160 km and is now extending into an artery of more than 1,200 km from the northeast to the south.
Russian forces are exploring many points along this front line. When the vulnerability was discovered, Russia immediately expanded the attack, similar to the Sumy attack last month.
Developments on the ground forced Ukrainian commanders to continuously mobilize elite forces to close the gap.
In early June, Ukraine sent elite special forces units under the Military Intelligence Directorate (HUR) to stabilize the situation. Since then, Russia's advance in Sumy has been largely halted, and Ukraine has recaptured some areas.
We are now looking for ways to organize counter-attacks and repel the opponent, said senior senior district police officer, commander of the Timur Special Forces Unit under HUR.
The combat mission on this front is considered difficult for Ukraine due to the difference in forces. They were much larger than us, even if not enough to crush us, said officer Kappa, commander of the Chimera unit of the Timur task force. He said that the Russian casualties were about 300-400 people per day in the area and Russia continued to send reserve troops.
In early June, a group of about 12 members of the Timur Special Forces Unit planned to attack a Russian-controlled village in northern Sumy. During the seven hours of fighting, the Ukrainian army was trapped in the battlefield, surrounded by much larger Russian troops.
It was the fiercest battle Ive ever gone through. They attacked with infantry, drones, mortars, machine guns, artillery, hoists... We hardly had until 5 minutes to breathe when the opponent temporarily stopped to reorganize" - said officer Mark, platoon commander. He added that the team's machine gun fired up to 5,500 bullets throughout the battle.
In the end, the entire group of Ukrainian soldiers decided to withdraw, with 3 people injured from being hit by bullets. The whole team suffered a concussion. The group also said it had shot down five Russian soldiers during the fighting.
