By Stefan J. Bos, Worthy News Europe Bureau Chief
KYIV/BUDAPEST (Worthy News) – Moscow appeared to prepare for a massive ground offensive in Ukraine on Saturday, prompting Ukrainian officials to issue evacuation orders for 11 more villages in the northern Sumy region after Russian gains killed several people.
The military movements came as Europe and the United States closely watched for a possible spread of the armed conflict after Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov warned that if long-range missiles had been permitted into Russia, it would amount to an “escalation.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin said earlier that Russia could deploy conventional missiles within striking distance of the United States and its European allies if they allowed Ukraine to strike deeper into Russia with long-range Western weapons.
Amid the East-West standoff, Russia advanced deeper into Ukrainian territory on Saturday, taking control of two more villages in Sumy and killing two people in a missile and drone barrage, officials said. More than 200 settlements in the region were already under evacuation orders.
Saturday’s attacks happened while Ukrainian diplomats continued to discuss participating in a fresh round of peace talks proposed by Moscow in Istanbul, Turkey, next week.
Yet there were doubts within U.S. European capitals about how sincerely Moscow was seeking peace.
The Ukrainian president, Volodymr Zelenskyy, has said that about 50,000 Russian troops were gathered on the border near the Sumy region, which he claimed was a sign that Moscow is preparing a renewed offensive.
TAKING CONTROL
On Saturday, the Russian Ministry of Defence said that it had taken control of the villages of Novopil in the eastern Donetsk region and Vodolahy in the northern Sumy region.
Russia’s military also launched 109 drones and five missiles at Ukraine overnight, and in the early hours of Saturday, many of which were intercepted, the Ukrainian air force said.
The missile salvo killed a nine-year-old girl in the Zaporizhzhia region, eastern Ukraine, as well as injured a 16-year-old, the governor of Zaporizhzhia, Ivan Fedorov, said. Another man was reportedly killed by Russian shelling in the port city of Kherson in southern Ukraine. “One house was destroyed. The shock wave from the blast also damaged several other houses, cars, and outbuildings,” Fedorov wrote on the social media platform Telegram.
Ukraine also launched drone attacks in western Russia on Saturday, injuring 14 people. There have also been numerous drones over and around Moscow, the capital, forcing the closure of airports.
“My mother was to come next month to visit me,” a young Russian man told Worthy News in Budapest. “But with all these drones, I don’t know if that is possible. I just hope there will be peace soon.”
He is one of many Russian men of fighting age staying outside the country, fearing they may be mobilized for a war that is believed to have killed and injured more than a million people.
Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 but is still struggling to control the country.
Copyright 1999-2026 Worthy News. This article was originally published on Worthy News and was reproduced with permission.
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