The events in the border village of Hrabovske in the Sumy Region do not indicate the preparation of a large-scale offensive by russian troops. Rather, it is a local provocation that may have political or informational overtones.
Viktor Trehubov, head of the Joint Forces Communications Department, has stated this on Suspilne TV channel.
According to him, in the evening of December 20, units of the 36th Brigade of the russian Army entered Hrabovske and tried to form a so-called infiltration zone up to one kilometer deep near the settlement.
Russian troops managed to penetrate directly into the village and take out up to 50 people, mostly civilian men. Dmytro Lykhovii, an officer of the Main Communications Directorate of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, said earlier that the people taken out were mostly elderly men and women, the oldest of whom was 89 years old. According to Trehubov, these are residents who had previously refused to be evacuated, while the entire border village was evacuated.
On the night of December 21, fighting continued in the area of Hrabovske. Currently, the Ukrainian Defense Forces are taking actions to dislodge russian units. According to Trehubov, the Ukrainian military has every reason to regain control of the settlement.
"[The situation] is not maximal and does not look like an attempt to create a local breakthrough. As of right now, it doesn't look like they're trying to draw some kind of big operation. It looks like some kind of more localized provocation in an area that was not a key area before. Moreover, it seems that kidnapping was a significant part of this provocation. It's not about strategic goals, it's about kidnapping people for some kind of political or information attack," he said.
What is known about the abduction of people in Hrabovske?
On the evening of December 20, it became known that the russian military entered the border village of Hrabovske in the Sumy Region and took away residents who had previously refused to evacuate. According to the ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets, on December 18, about 50 civilians were illegally detained and later forcibly transferred to russia.
The emergency evacuation of civilians from the border continues in the Sumy Region in response to the actions of the russian military after reports of abductions of residents of the border settlement by the occupiers. Currently, the regional authorities, together with the relevant services, are coordinating the process of moving people to protect them from possible capture by the enemy.
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