Putin orders continuing work to ensure 'security zone' along Russia-Ukraine border in 2026

ISTANBUL

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday ordered military commanders to continue efforts to ensure a “security zone” along his country’s border with Ukraine in the coming year.

During a briefing by Russian military commanders on the front-line situation in Ukraine, Putin listened to reports on various fronts amid the nearly four-year conflict, during which Yevgeny Nikiforov, head of the “North” grouping of forces, claimed the country’s “security zone” in Ukraine’s northeastern Sumy region is more than 16 kilometers (10 miles) deep.

Claiming Russia’s front-line units are less than 20 kilometers (12.4 miles) from the region’s administrative center, the city of Sumy, Nikiforov claimed that the “security zone” in the region is also 60 kilometers (37.2 miles) wide.

“This is a very important task, as it ensures the security of Russia's border regions. This work must certainly continue in 2026,” Putin told Nikiforov in remarks published by the Kremlin.

During the briefing, Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov claimed that Russian forces captured the settlements of Bohuslavka and Dibrova in Ukraine’s northeastern Kharkiv region and are advancing in the town of Lyman in the eastern Donetsk region.

He added that Russian troops are establishing a “security zone” in Ukraine’s Dnipropetrovsk region and are also advancing toward the city of Zaporizhzhia, amid which they have taken control of the village of Lukianivske.

In May, Putin announced that he ordered the creation of a “security buffer zone” along the border between Russia and Ukraine, after Russia claimed to have pushed Ukrainian troops out of its border region of Kursk, where Kyiv had launched an incursion in August 2024.

Ukrainian authorities have yet to comment on Russia’s recent claims, and independent verification of the claims is difficult due to the ongoing war.