Putin orders Ukraine buffer zone expansion

Russia's top general said its forces were pressing forward in northeastern Ukraine and President Vladimir Putin had ordered expansion of territory Moscow calls a buffer zone there in 2026, Russian news agencies said on Wednesday, Reuters reported.

- Agencies

Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov said Putin ordered expansion in 2026 of the buffer zone in Ukraine’s regions of Sumy and Kharkiv near the Russian border, RIA said, adding that he inspected the “North” troop grouping. Gerasimov told troops to keep carving out buffer zones in Ukraine’s Sumy and Kharkiv regions in order to protect civilians in Russia's neighbouring Kursk and Belgorod regions from Ukrainian attacks.

The grouping, formed in early 2024, has operated in northeastern Ukraine, seeking to create a buffer along the border and trying to push back Ukrainian forces there for further advances.

Gerasimov's remarks follow Russia's vow to retaliate for what it claimed, without evidence, was an attempt to attack Putin’s residence, an allegation Kyiv denied, saying it was aimed at derailing peace talks as the war nears its fourth year.

There was no immediate reaction from Ukraine to the Gerasimov report.