Over 60% of residents have evacuated from dangerous territories in Ukraine’s northeastern Sumy Oblast amid continuous shelling of civilian infrastructure and intensified offensive operations along the border.

The evacuation pace has accelerated in recent days, with more than 400 residents leaving border communities during the week of 9-15 June alone.  Among those evacuated were 26 children, according to the head of Sumy Regional Military Administration, Oleh Hryhorov.

The scale of the evacuation encompasses 213 settlements across Sumy Oblast, with 60 communities now completely abandoned by their residents. 

Russian forces now conduct an average of 80 to 120 strikes daily against the region, Hryhorov reported in a recent interview with Suspilne Sumy. Seven civilians were killed since the beginning of June, including one child. 

The intensity of attacks created a state of near-constant danger, with air raid alerts lasting an average of 14-15 hours daily.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy previously stated that Ukrainian forces had successfully halted Russian advancement in the Sumy direction. However, he also indicated that Russia has concentrated 50,000 soldiers in the area as part of an attempt to establish what he described as a “buffer zone” within Ukrainian territory.

Current occupation data from the analytical project DeepState shows 12 settlements in Sumy region remain under Russian control as of 14 June.

The Institute for the Study of War and Ukrainian officials, however, assessed that Russia lacks sufficient manpower and resources for a major breakthrough in Sumy, with many targeted villages evacuated and of limited strategic value.

Today, there are interesting updates from the Kupiansk direction. Here, as Russian losses have officially hit an unprecedented 1 million count, the breaking point finally came, and the soldiers began turning their rifles on their own commanders rather than face certain death in futile assaults.

Three bullets on road to Nyzhnia Duvanka

In one of the most brutal recent examples of growing disorder within Russian ranks, several Russian soldiers near the settlement of Nyzhnia Duvanka in the Luhansk region turned on their own.

By shooting and killing the military police platoon commander and two of his barrier troop subordinates and running away, they sparked a frantic search operation by Russian authorities.

The deserters left their comrades to lie dead on the road while fleeing to save their lives from both Ukrainian and Russian fire.

Pischane funnel: Where men disappear

This violent mutiny did not emerge in a vacuum; it is directly tied to the hopeless bloodbath unfolding near the Kupiansk front, specifically at the Pischane funnel. For months, Russian forces have tried and failed to break through Ukrainian defenses here.

The Ukrainians have created a deadly trap by controlling the flanks, exposing any Russian assault to relentless drone and artillery fire from both sides. Yet commanders continue to send wave after wave of infantry into the funnel, hoping to drive a wedge through Ukrainian lines.

Every new wave knows exactly how it will end, as almost no one from previous groups returns alive. The systematic nature of these assaults has been likened to mass execution, with soldiers pushed forward not for tactical gain but to serve as human battering rams.

Mad Max cars and vanishing men

To make matters worse, Russian troops are being sent into combat in improvised Mad Max-style vehicles, like the Gaz-69, which entered production in 1952, the year of Stalin’s death, and regular cars fitted with rudimentary armor or even none.

Such improvised motorcycle squads and barely armored vehicles now lead the charge, only to be annihilated by Ukrainian FPV drones well before reaching the contact line. These desperate measures highlight not only material shortages but a total disregard for the lives of Russian troops.

Ukrainian surveillance drones ensure that almost no movement goes undetected, meaning most assaults are decimated long before they engage the defenders.

When running is not option

Despite the carnage, desertions in the Russian army remain surprisingly rare. The reason lies in the sheer brutality of the punishments for refusing to fight.

Soldiers who resist are subjected to medieval-style torture. Some are thrown into pits without food before being forced to fight each other to the death to earn the right to live another day.

In one documented case, soldiers were tied behind vehicles and dragged through the dirt, while other deserters were forced to bury each other alive as punishment and to serve as an example. In the Lyman area, a surrendering Russian soldier was spotted by Russian drone operators and targeted by his own artillery.

This highlights the impossible choice facing many: surrender and be killed or desert and be hunted. For some, turning against their officers seems to be the only escape.

This toxic atmosphere has bred a surge in violent retaliation. Russian soldiers, driven to the brink by the realization that dying in a pointless assault is their fate if they continue, are increasingly likely to choose to kill their commanders instead, as it is safer than being spotted attempting to surrender to the Ukrainians.

Meanwhile, commanders themselves contribute to the decay by labeling active soldiers as deserters to avoid paying their wages, denying them medical care, and forcing under-equipped men into combat.

A recent appeal by the families of men from the Russian 54th Motorized Rifle Regiment revealed horrifying conditions: soldiers were beaten and handcuffed, robbed of personal belongings, and left to die without evacuation.

Wounded men are forced to crawl back to safety, and the dead are simply abandoned, confirmed by footage showing bodies of dead Russian soldiers that haven’t been moved for months since the snow covered the fields.

Million-man grave and rot within

The downward spiral is accelerating. Russian military losses have just surpassed one million casualties, including killed, wounded, and captured.

Equipment losses are equally staggering, with 10,000 destroyed and damaged tanks and over 20,000 armored vehicles of various types.

Lacking armor, modern vehicles, or meaningful support, commanders now rely on sheer manpower and suicidal frontal attacks to advance the line ever so slowly. But the more men are lost, the worse morale gets, and the more inclined troops are coming to view their superiors as the enemy instead of the Ukrainians they are forced to fight.

Overall, such events create a vicious cycle.

The collapse of discipline and the dehumanizing tactics employed by Russian commanders will inevitably lead to more incidents where soldiers turn their weapons on their leaders.

To prevent this, the officers are only doubling down on cruelty, inventing new, more barbaric punishments. This internal rot may not only undermine Russia’s ability to continue the war, but it could also ultimately sabotage its war effort from within.

In our regular frontline report, we pair up with the military blogger Reporting from Ukraine to keep you informed about what is happening on the battlefield in the Russo-Ukrainian war.

War intensifies amid Russia’s summer offensive. Ukraine has spotted a massive redeployment of Russian self-propelled artillery and air defense systems to Sumy Oblast. 

Ukrainian forces have recorded a large-scale transfer of Russian military equipment from Crimea and Kherson towards Sumy Oblast. According to Petro Andriushchenko, head of the Occupation Studies Center, this is the largest movement of weaponry in the past six months.

“More than 10 self-propelled artillery systems, air defense systems, and convoys of over 40 trucks carrying ammunition and personnel,” Andriushchenko says.

The equipment is being loaded onto trains and sent to Russia’s Kursk Oblast, effectively heading to Sumy. The Russians are now stationed approximately 25-30 km from it. If they reach the city’s border, they will use artillery to strike it. 

Special attention is drawn to the military equipment markings, which, with their dominant tactical symbol of a triangle within a triangle, indicate reinforcement of this specific direction.

Amid this buildup, Sumy faces heavy drone attacks. Konotop mayor Artem Semenikhin stated that on 8 June, the region endured the most powerful drone assault since the war began: “The entire sky over the region turned red with targets.”

Ukraine must rebuild the Kakhovka Hydropower Plant. Ukrhydroenergo, the state enterprise that administers hydro power plants, has announced it is preparing to fully design a new complex as soon as circumstances permit, Suspilne reports. 

Its destruction was one of Russia’s largest environmental and energy-related war crimes, and its reconstruction is a strategic step toward energy independence and national security. 

“We are ready to begin restoration work as soon as the war ends, the area is de-occupied, and agreements allow it,” emphasizes Bohdan Sukhetskyi, Acting CEO of the company.

According to him, a 3D model of the Kakhovka Reservoir bed has already been created, communication routes laid out, and a temporary dam planned. But actual construction can only begin after de-occupation and demining.

“Ukraine needs the Kakhovka HPP… Our first task is to ensure a water supply for the entire country. The second, to balance the power system,” Sukhetskyi reveals.

The destroyed plant was part of the Dnipro cascade of hydropower stations, which efficiently uses every drop of water from Kyiv to the Black Sea. Without Kakhovka, shipping stops, the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant cannot be cooled, and clean energy isn’t generated.

“The shipping corridor from the upper Dnipro to the Black Sea is currently non-operational… until we raise the water level,” the company head explains.

Following the dam explosion on 6 June 2023, 620 km² of land across four regions were flooded. 100,000 people were affected, at least 32 were killed, and damages totaled $1.5 billion.

Some analysts see it the act as a form of revenge against Kherson Oblast for resisting Russian occupation, and as a demonstration that Russia was willing to take drastic measures when unable to hold territory by force. 

Russians are advancing — after a breakthrough in the region, Sumy may come under direct fire.
On the border of Sumy Oblast, Russian occupiers have intensified their offensive and advanced 6–7 kilometers deep into Ukrainian territory.

Russia does not intend to stop at creating a so-called “buffer zone,” adds Shevtsov. Its goal is the full occupation of Sumy Oblast, as well as Kharkiv Oblast and other regions in eastern Ukraine.

According to Andrii Demchenko, spokesperson for the State Border Guard Service (SBGS), about 50,000 Russian troops have been concentrated in Kursk Oblast near the Russian border, UNIAN reports. 

The offensive is accompanied by intense shelling from drones, artillery, and aircraft using glide bombs and guided missiles.

All of this aims to complicate the defense of Ukrainian positions and push even deeper.

“The situation is not easy — in fact, it’s difficult. The Russians are sending infantry groups toward Yunakivka and Khotin. If earlier we observed activity in the areas of Basivka and Zhuravka, now the zone has expanded,” Demchenko says.

So far, heavy armored vehicles have not been used. Instead, Russia is deploying infantry, including units on quad bikes and motorcycles, to quickly break into Ukrainian territory.

The invaders are trying to entrench themselves in forest belts and hideouts while awaiting reinforcements.

“We must pay tribute to our soldiers, who are bravely holding the defense and destroying dozens of invaders every day… But unfortunately, the enemy does not care about its losses — some die, others keep coming,” the military spokesperson emphasizes. 

According to Demchenko, the occupiers’ goal is to gradually expand the combat zone and move closer to strategically important logistical hubs to increase pressure on Ukraine’s defense forces.