Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Monday denied that Russian troops had captured a village in the northeastern Sumy region where Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov had previously claimed Moscow's forces had advanced.
Kadyrov said Sunday that Russian troops had captured the border village of Ryzhivka. There was no immediate comment from the Russian Defense Ministry, and a local Ukrainian official denied the claim.
Zelensky said that Ukrainian forces were in “full control” of the Sumy region and that Russian sabotage groups operating there had been “destroyed.”
"As for the village of Ryzhivka, the occupiers tried to carry out a propaganda operation there," he reported on social media. "As of this morning, the Russian flag in the village has been destroyed, and there are no occupiers."
Zelensky said the fighting in the industrial Donetsk region was "the most difficult" and that Ukrainian forces were doing everything to stabilize their positions there.
Kadyrov stated that fighters from his Akhmat battalion “together with servicemen from other Russian units carried out tactical operations and liberated another settlement from the enemy” in the Sumy region.
“As a result of large-scale planned offensive actions, the Ukrainian side suffered significant losses and was forced to retreat,” he added.
Yuriy Zarko, the Ukrainian head of the local municipality, denied that Ryzhivka had been captured and told state television channel Suspilnoye that there were no Russian troops in the village.
Last month, Zelensky warned that Russia was amassing troops along its northern border ahead of a possible new offensive.
Last month, authorities began evacuating residents of some border towns and villages in the Sumy region, citing the risk of increased Russian attacks.
On May 10, Russia launched a major ground operation in the neighboring Kharkiv region, capturing several towns and villages as Kyiv forces struggled with shortages of manpower and ammunition.
Ukraine has since sent reinforcements to the area but lost ground to Russia on other parts of the front, and Zelensky on Sunday warned of heavy fighting in the eastern Donetsk region.