Russia seizes Ukrainian border villages as massive bombing campaign slows

A spate of large-scale bombardments between Friday and Sunday saw homes destroyed in Markhalivka village in the Kyiv region (Evgeniy Maloletka/AP)

Russian forces have taken four border villages in Ukraine’s north-eastern Sumy region, a local official has said, days after Russian President Vladimir Putin said he had issued an order to establish a buffer zone along the border.

Sumy borders Russia’s Kursk region, where a surprise Ukrainian incursion last year captured a pocket of land in the first occupation of Russian territory since the Second World War.