Russian President Vladimir Putin has announced the creation of a “buffer zone” along the border with Ukraine.
” A decision has been taken to create a necessary security buffer zone along the border. Our Armed Forces are now solving this task,” he said at a meeting with officials on Thursday.
The other day Putin met with the leadership of municipalities in the Kursk region, during which the head of the Glushkovsky district, Pavel Zolotarev, asked Putin to create a buffer zone in the Sumy region. Putin asked how deep this buffer zone should be, and Zolotarev said Russia should seize “at least the sums (of the city)” and hinted that Russia should be “bigger.”
In Sumy region, bordering Russia’s Kursk and Belgorod regions – active fighting continues. Russian troops are regularly shelling Sumy region’s settlements with artillery, attacking with drones and dropping aerial bombs. The border area suffers the greatest destruction – the majority of local residents have fled their homes. In some areas, the Russian military wants to cross the border and enter Ukrainian territory; in others, the Ukrainian military is crossing the border and entering Russian territory.
Early last year, Russian President Vladimir Putin voiced the idea of a “demilitarised” or “sanitary” zone in Ukraine, saying that the demilitarised line with Ukraine should ensure “the safety of Russian territory from long-range Western-made weapons”.