{"id":1335630,"date":"2025-12-22T12:47:16","date_gmt":"2025-12-22T10:47:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/russia-has-intensified-cross-border-attacks-in-sumy-and-kharkiv-regions-isw-explained-the-kremlins-goal\/"},"modified":"2025-12-22T12:47:16","modified_gmt":"2025-12-22T10:47:16","slug":"russia-has-intensified-cross-border-attacks-in-sumy-and-kharkiv-regions-isw-explained-the-kremlins-goal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/en\/russia-has-intensified-cross-border-attacks-in-sumy-and-kharkiv-regions-isw-explained-the-kremlins-goal\/","title":{"rendered":"Russia has intensified cross-border attacks in Sumy and Kharkiv regions: ISW explained the Kremlin’s goal"},"content":{"rendered":"

Russian forces conducted limited cross-border attacks on the border villages of Grabovske in Sumy Oblast and Sotnytskyi Kozachok in Kharkiv Oblast in December 2025. Analysts believe these actions are aimed at creating an information effect, rather than a full-scale offensive in northern Ukraine.<\/strong><\/p>\n

This was reported by<\/a> the Institute for the Study of War (ISW).<\/p>\n

Ukrainian authorities reported on December 20 and 21 that Russian troops had entered Grabovskoye on the night of Saturday. Russian sources reported the capture of Grabovskoye and Ryasny, attributing these actions to units of the 34th Motorized Rifle Brigade of the Southern Military District of the Russian Federation.<\/p>\n

“Available evidence suggests that Russian forces have likely captured Grabovske. This is a disputed ‘gray zone’ that is currently not controlled by either Russian or Ukrainian forces,” ISW analysts noted.<\/p>\n

In Sotnytskyi Kozachko, Kharkiv Oblast, on December 21, Russian attack aircraft attacked positions of the Defense Forces of Ukraine. According to one of the Ukrainian units, the attack was repelled.<\/p>\n

ISW analysts believe that the limited cross-border attacks are part of the Kremlin\u2019s cognitive warfare campaign. The goal is to convince the West of the alleged imminent collapse of Ukraine\u2019s defenses and the need for Ukraine to make concessions.<\/p>\n

“The Kremlin will likely try to use these attacks, along with narratives about creating a buffer zone, to push the West to put pressure on Kyiv,” ISW analysts explained.<\/p>\n

Despite the intensification, analysts have not detected any signs of a large-scale Russian offensive in the northern direction. No mass redeployments of forces, battlefield preparations, or medium-range strikes on Ukrainian logistics have been recorded.<\/p>\n

“Russian forces did not conduct a prolonged air interception campaign to prepare for ground attacks, as was the case in other areas. This indicates the absence of plans for a major offensive,” ISW noted.<\/p>\n

Viktor Tregubov, spokesman for the Joint Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, confirmed that the actions of the occupiers in the north are a local provocation that does not threaten the stability of the front.<\/p>\n

ISW expects cross-border attacks to continue in the coming days and weeks for informational influence purposes. However, the emergence of new small-scale attacks does not signal the start of a major offensive.<\/p>\n

“The main goal of these tactical attacks is to achieve an information effect, not to capture territory as part of a broader offensive,” the analysts emphasized.<\/p>\n

The day before, it became known that fighting is currently ongoing in the village of Grabovske, Sumy region<\/a> . The defense forces are making efforts to drive the occupiers back to Russian territory.<\/p>\n

We will remind you that the Russian military took out civilian residents of the village of Grabovske, Krasnopil community, Sumy region<\/a> .<\/p>\n

By the way, in November the Russian army occupied 505 sq. km of Ukrainian territory<\/a> \u2014 almost twice as much as in September. Analysts have recorded a sharp increase in the intensity of assaults in several directions.<\/p>\n

It was previously reported that the activity of Russian troops in Kupyansk has decreased<\/a> , however, the intensity of operations in the Kharkiv region remains high – the enemy is trying to advance in the South-Slobozhansk direction.<\/p>\n

Also follow \u201cPryamim\u201d<\/strong> on Facebook<\/a> , Twitter<\/a> , Telegram<\/a> , and Instagram.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Russian forces conducted limited cross-border attacks on the border villages of Grabovske in Sumy Oblast and Sotnytskyi Kozachok in Kharkiv Oblast in December 2025. Analysts believe these actions are aimed at creating an information effect, rather than a full-scale offensive in northern Ukraine. This was reported by the Institute for the Study of War (ISW). […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":54,"featured_media":1257018,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ep_exclude_from_search":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[76871,76872,76874],"class_list":["post-1335630","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-2","category-news-feed","category-war"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1335630","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/54"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1335630"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1335630\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1257018"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1335630"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1335630"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}