Ukraine recaptures two villages amid peace talks
Ukraine has recaptured two villages in the eastern Sumy region, the Kyiv army announced.
This adds to other recent small territorial gains along the front line with Russia and comes ahead of a scheduled Friday summit in Alaska between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin that will focus on a peace deal for Ukraine, Reuters reports.
US President Donald Trump stated on Monday that Ukraine and Russia would have to cede territory to end the war. This week's talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin will show if the Kremlin leader is willing to make a deal.
Ukrainian forces liberated the settlements of Stepne and Novokostiantynivka along the Sumy front line, the General Staff announced in a report published on Monday evening.
"It's tough, but we're keeping the enemies at bay," Ukraine's supreme commander, Oleksandr Syrskyi, wrote on Facebook after a meeting with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and other senior Ukrainian officials.
"In the Sumy direction, we are conducting active operations and registering some successes in advancing and liberating Ukrainian territory," Syrskyi added.
The territorial gains on Monday follow Sunday reports that the Kyiv army had recaptured the village of Bezsalivka.
These small territorial gains come as Russian forces have been advancing westward for months along the 1,000 km front line, capturing new villages almost daily, mainly in the Donetsk region.
The Deep State Project, an open-source Ukrainian military blog, indicates that Russian forces control approximately 200 square kilometers of Sumy and a total of 114,000 square kilometers in Ukraine, according to the same source.
Translation by Iurie Tataru
