Three Die In Ukraine’s Sumy Region, Russia Says Peace Talks Paused

Russia launched an attack in Ukraine’s northern Sumy region on Friday, killing three people, according to a regional official cited by Reuters. Russia has been engaged in a battle across the 1000 km front in eastern Ukraine but have recently tried to gain some foothold in areas like Sumy, which shares a border with Russia’s Kursk region. 

Sumy Regional Governor Oleh Hryhory said that a drone and missile attack killed three residents in or near Sumy and injured five. Following the attack, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that Moscow's attempts to advance in the area had failed with heavy losses. 

Zelenskyy quoted Ukraine's top military commander, Oleksandr Syrskyi, claiming that the Russian operation in the region "has been completely foiled by our forces."

He made the comments on Telegram stating "Fighting continues in the border areas of the Sumy region, but the Russian grouping in the Sumy direction has lost its offensive capabilities as a result of the losses it has suffered." 

The Ukrainian president had also asserted that their forces have also been actively countering Russia’s offensive in Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia, the two main areas on the front line.

Russia on Friday had said that it downed 221 Ukrainian drones launched on its soil overnight, in one of the largest aerial attacks since May. The Defence ministry claimed that over half of the drones were intercepted over the Bryansk and Smolensk regions, south-west of Moscow, where Lukoil facilities were reportedly targeted, BBC reported.

The Kremlin has also announced that the peace talks between both nations are on hold accusing European countries of obstructing negotiations. “The channels of communication are in place and functioning. Our negotiators can communicate through them. But for now, it is probably more accurate to say there is a pause,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Friday.

“The Russian side remains ready to pursue the path of peaceful dialogue. But it is true that the Europeans are hindering this,” he added, Al Jazeera reported.  

United States president Donald Trump, in an interview with Fox News on Friday had said that he is running out of patience with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin. Both leaders had earlier met in Alaska on August 15 to discuss a possible ceasefire in Ukraine, but no such agreement was met.