Monday 22 / December / 2025
The Ukrainian army was seeking to stop an attempted Russian breakthrough in the Sumy region, it has been reported on Sunday.
This follows reports that Moscow had allegedly forcibly moved at least 50 people from the border village of Hrabovske.
"Fighting is currently ongoing in the village of Hrabovske," Ukraine's joint task force said.
The military added that troops were "making efforts to drive the occupiers back into Russian territory," but dismissed media reports that Russian soldiers were also in the neighboring Riasne village.
Earlier on Sunday, the Ukrainian rights ombudsman made an assessment that enemy troops had forcibly moved about 50 civilians from Hrabovske to Russia.
Those claims could not be independently verified, and Russia made no comment although the army said on Saturday they had captured the village of Vysoke, a few kilometers from Hrabovske.
Witkoff also says talks with Russia were 'productive'
US special envoy Steve Witkoff also posted on X regarding talks in Miami with Russia's Kirill Dmitriev.
Witkoff said that over the past two days in Florida, "the Russian Special Envoy Kirill Dmitriev held productive and constructive meetings with the American delegation to advance President Trump's peace plan on Ukraine."
Witkoff said the US delegation included Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner and White House staff member Josh Gruenbaum. Kushner does not have an official role in the administration.
"Russia remains fully commited to achieving peace in Ukraine," Witkoff said. "Russia highly values the efforts and support of the United States to resolve the Ukrainian conflict and re-establish global security."
Russia launched its unprovoked invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022. So far, diplomatic talks have failed to end the conflict.
