No Russian troops were present in the border village of Ryzhivka in Sumy Oblast on the evening of June 9, Yurii Zarko, head of the Bilopillia community, told the Suspilne media outlet.
Zarko's statement came after Chechen dictator Ramzan Kadyrov claimed on June 9 that soldiers of the Akhmat-Chechnya regiment captured the Ukrainian village, sharing a video on Telegram purported to show their presence and fighting in the settlement.
Ryzhivka, where reportedly fewer than 10 people remained as of the end of May, is 2 kilometers from Russia's Kursk Oblast.
According to the crowd-sourced DeepState monitoring service that tracks changes on the front line, the village is in a "grey zone," and Russian sabotage groups are regularly attempting to break into it.
"They (Akhmat-Chechnya regiment) could have carried out this action on any other day of the year," DeepState wrote.
Andrii Kovalenko, the head of an anti-disinformation department at the National Security and Defense Council, said there are no activities in the border area of Sumy Oblast, calling Kadyrov's claims a part of an information operation.
"As of now, this is not the beginning of what happened in Kharkiv Oblast. The defense forces are in control of the situation," Kovalenko said.
The Ukrainian military is yet to comment on the situation in Ryzhivka.
Kyrylo Budanov, Ukraine's military intelligence chief, suggested in mid-May that Russian forces may launch an offensive in Sumy Oblast similar to the one in Kharkiv Oblast when the conditions are more favorable.
Moscow failed to fulfill its Kharkiv operation, President Volodymyr Zelensky said on June 8. In late May, Zelensky warned that Russia is forming another grouping of troops near Ukraine's northern border.
Since the Russian-occupied parts of Sumy Oblast were liberated in early April 2022, the region has been experiencing daily strikes from across the border, as it is located on Ukraine's northeastern border with Russia.
Ukrainian authorities ordered further evacuations from the region amid intensified attacks.
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