Russia might try to take Ukrainian city of Sumy, says Putin

SAINT PETERSBURG: Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Friday he did not “rule out” his forces attempting to seize the northeastern Ukrainian city of Sumy, casting fresh doubt over the prospect of peace talks between Moscow and Kyiv.

Ukraine said Putin´s comments showed “disdain” for the peace process.

Diplomatic efforts to end the three-year conflict have stalled in recent weeks and Kyiv has accused Moscow of deliberately sabotaging a peace deal to prolong its full-scale offensive on the country.

Russia currently occupies around a fifth of Ukraine and has claimed four Ukrainian regions as its own since launching its assault in 2022, in addition to Crimea, which it captured in 2014.

The Sumy region is not one of the regions Moscow has formally annexed, although Russian forces have recently made inroads there for the first time in three years.

At Russia´s flagship economic forum in Saint Petersburg, Putin suggested Moscow could take Sumy as part of the creation of a “buffer zone” along the border and repeated his denial of Ukrainian statehood.

“We have no objective to take Sumy, but in principle I do not rule it out... They pose a constant threat to us, constantly shelling the border areas,” Putin said.

“I consider Russians and Ukrainians to be one people. In that sense, all of Ukraine is ours,” he told attendees, when asked why his army was entering areas Moscow did not claim as its own.

“There is a saying: wherever a Russian soldier sets foot, that is ours.”

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiga described Putin´s comments as “deranged” and called for Kyiv´s allies to slap “devastating sanctions” on Russia.

“The only way to force Russia into peace is to deprive it of its sense of impunity,” he wrote in a post on X.