Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky on Monday denied that Russian troops had captured a village in the northeastern Sumy region, where Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov previously claimed Moscow's forces had advanced.
Kadyrov said on Sunday that Russian troops had captured the border village of Ryzhivka. There was no immediate comment from the Russian Defense Ministry, and a local Ukrainian official denied the claim.
Zelensky said that Ukrainian forces are “in complete control” of the Sumy region and that Russian sabotage groups operating there have been “destroyed.”
“As for the village of Ryzhivka, the occupiers tried to carry out a propaganda operation there,” he said on social networks. “As of this morning, the Russian flag in the village has been destroyed, there are no occupiers.”
Zelensky said the fighting in the industrial Donetsk region was the "most difficult" and that Ukrainian forces were doing everything to stabilize their positions there.
Kadyrov said that the soldiers of his Akhmat battalion “together with military personnel of other Russian units carried out tactical operations and liberated another settlement from the enemy” in the Sumy region.
“As a result of large-scale planned offensive actions, the Ukrainian side suffered significant losses and was forced to retreat,” he added.
Yuriy Zarko, the Ukrainian head of the local municipality, denied that Ryzhivka had been captured and told the state TV channel Suspilnoe that there were no Russian troops in the village.
Zelensky warned last month that Russia was massing troops along its northern border ahead of a possible new offensive.
Last month, authorities began evacuating residents of some border towns and villages in the Sumy region, citing the risk of increased Russian attacks.
On May 10, Russia launched a major ground operation in the neighboring Kharkov region, capturing several towns and villages as Kyiv forces struggled with manpower and ammunition shortages.
Ukraine has since sent reinforcements to the area but has lost ground to Russia on other parts of the front, and Zelensky on Sunday warned of heavy fighting in the eastern Donetsk region.
