The Russian army kidnapped 50 villagers from Hrabovske last night and took them across the border, Ukrainians say
Russian military. PHOTO: Russian Defense Ministry Press Service / AP / Profimedia
Moscow's forces crossed the border with Ukraine in the country's northeastern Sumy region and took about 50 residents of a Ukrainian border village and took them to Russia, according to the Kiev military, cited by Ukrainian media and Reuters.
Ukrainian public television station Suspilne and news agency Ukrainska Pravda said Russian forces entered Ukrainian territory on Saturday night in the area of the village of Hrabovske.
Most of the captured villagers were elderly, according to Ukrainian media, which says an 89-year-old woman was also taken.
Dmytro Lykhovii, a spokesman for the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, said that Ukraine's defense forces had withdrawn from several positions near the town of Hrabovske as a result of the Russian offensive. He stated that stabilization measures are currently being taken in the area.
Russia has not released any information on the matter, Reuters notes, adding that it could not independently verify this claim.
Russian forces have captured several villages in the Sumî region in recent months, and many towns have been bombed.
The head of the military administration of the Sumy region, Oleh Hryhorov, wrote on Telegram that the authorities have begun the evacuation of residents of border villages who had previously refused to be moved.
He did not identify the affected places, but urged the residents of the border areas to accept the evacuations.
The US think tank the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) noted in its latest assessment, published on Saturday night, that a Russian military blogger claimed that Moscow forces had captured Hrabovske, just south of Vysoke.
The ISW stated that it had not observed any further developments on this side of the front since the late summer fighting near Demidovka (northeast of Vysoke) in Russia's Belgorod region.
