Russian troop build-up in Sumy Oblast growing month by month as forces push towards dense forest – Ukrainska Pravda

Russian forces have been increasing the size of their grouping in Sumy Oblast each month since at least autumn 2025 and are moving towards a large dense forest northwest of the city of Sumy.

Source: an Ukrainska Pravda source in the intelligence unit of a brigade that has been operating in Sumy Oblast since the start of the Kursk operation [an offensive into Russia's Kursk Oblast launched by the Ukrainian Armed Forces, who occupied parts of the region in order to draw Russian soldiers away from the cities of Pokrovsk and Sumy and the Kharkiv front]

Details: The main area of the advance remains the Russian-held area between the villages of Oleksiivka, Yablunivka and Yunakivka. From there, Russian forces are advancing along three routes towards Khotin, Pysarivka and Nova Sich.

A second, less visible, area of advance is the village of Myropillia.

Why this matters: If the fighting in Sumy Oblast shifts from the villages, where Ukrainian forces currently hold the line, to the forest, defence will be significantly more complicated, as combat would move from open terrain into dense woodland cut by deep ravines.

Ukrainska Pravda reported in summer 2025 that the area could become a new front resembling Serebrianka Forest, where intense fighting has been going on since autumn 2022.

If the Russians succeed, it would be extremely difficult to dislodge them from a vast green zone that conceals everything from troop movements to dugouts.

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