Russia has no strike force on Sumy Region's border - Regional State Administration

OLENA ROSHCHYNA - TUESDAY, 12 APRIL 2022, 07:59

Dmytro Zhyvytskyi, head of the Sumy Regional Military Administration, has said that as of 11 April, the Russian army has no strike force on Russia's border with the Sumy region.

Source: Zhyvitskyi in a video message on Facebook

According to Zhyvytskyi: " Regarding the threat of invasion,  for the last few days information has been circulating that I told Deutsche Welle that there has been a build-up of troops, and that there is a big threat of invasion. But these words have been taken a bit out of context...

There are indeed troops on the border with Ukraine, on the border with Sumy region - they are constantly moving, redeploying, sometimes more, sometimes less. But at the moment, we are not seeing that kind of strike force on the border with the Sumy region. And we are hoping, praying and working to ensure that no invasion situation will take place."

Details: Zhyvytskyi added that the authorities are doing everything to ensure that the Russian military no longer travels through the region "like they do at home", with the military trying to prevent hostile forces from entering the Sumy region.

He said that it is difficult to control the 563.8 km border with Russia, but everything is being done to this end.

According to the head of the Regional Military Administration, there is no need to leave the region at the moment.

Zhyvytskyi said that they are restoring the region's infrastructure, resuming bus services in the region, and are planning to gradually restore rail links with other regions.

Businesses are getting back to work, and the sowing season has begun - they are even making arrangements with the military to sow the land along the border.

Schools are operating online.

Zhivitsky added that the damage to the region is more than 10 billion hryvnias, " it will take us more than a year to recover, but we will definitely rebuild everything."

Background:

• On 24 February, Russian troops launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
• On 8 April, Russian troops completely withdrew from the Sumy Region.
• However, Russian military equipment remains somewhat close to the Ukrainian border, particularly in the Sumy Region.