Zelenskyy: Russia Gathers 50 Thousand Troops Near Ukraine's Sumy

JAKARTA - Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russia was gathering 50,000 troops near the Sumy region in northern Ukraine. Kyiv called Zelenskyy has taken steps to prevent Moscow from carrying out a massive attack there.

The power increase comes as Russia appears to be preparing for a summer offensive in Ukraine while Kyiv is waiting for Moscow to hand over a memorandum describing its requirements to continue ceasefire negotiations.

Sumy is located across the border of Russia's Kursk region, where Ukraine previously seized and controlled parts of the territory for months, before being almost completely expelled last month, although Ukraine says it still controls some areas there.

"The largest and strongest of their troops are currently at the forefront of Kursk," Zelenskyy told reporters.

"To encourage our troops to leave the Kursk area and prepare offensive actions against the Sumy region," he continued.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said he wanted a "banned zone" along Russia's border with Ukraine.

Zelenskiy believes Russia wants a buffer zone of about 10 kilometers (6 miles).

Russia has captured four border villages in the region recently, and has been creeping forward slowly over the past few weeks in several front lines in eastern Ukraine near the city of Kostyantynivka.

However, Zelenskyyy said Russia had been pushed back in the area for 4 km (2.5 miles) for two days.

Ukraine and Russia exchanged 1.000 prisoners after a meeting of delegations from the two countries in Istanbul nearly two weeks ago that failed to produce a ceasefire requested by Ukraine, the US and Europe.

Zelenskyy views Turkey, the Vatican and Switzerland as the most realistic places for further negotiations with Russia.

He said interest in hosting the talks had also been expressed by Malta, as well as unnamed African countries.