Russia only 12 km from key Ukraine city, its troops outnumber Kyiv forces 3-to-1

Russian forces are now just 12 kilometers from the key northeastern Ukrainian city of Sumy, using their roughly 3-to-1 manpower advantage to ramp up attacks along the front.

According to The Wall Street Journal report, after clearing out Ukrainian positions in Russia’s Kursk region earlier this year, Moscow has shifted its focus across the border, with an estimated 50,000 troops pushing toward Sumy.

Ukrainian soldiers on the ground say they are being heavily outnumbered as the Kremlin continues to press its numerical edge in multiple sectors, added the report.

“Their main strategy is to wear us down with their numbers.” The Wall Street Journal quoted Ukraine’s top military commander Gen. Oleksandr Syrskiy as saying.

The Russian push toward Sumy comes amid rising frustration from President Donald Trump over the Kremlin’s refusal to pursue a cease-fire. Despite ongoing talks between Ukrainian and Russian officials in Turkey in recent weeks, Moscow has escalated its missile and drone strikes on Ukrainian cities.

In the latest barrage, described as the largest of the war in terms of munitions fired, Ukraine lost an F-16 fighter jet and its pilot overnight Sunday.

Gen. Syrskiy told The Wall Street Journal that over the past year, the front line has extended by more than 100 miles and now spans over 750 miles from northeast to south, .

Russian forces have been probing for weak spots, then striking hard when they find one, as they did in Sumy last month.

In response, Ukrainian commanders have scrambled to plug gaps, often deploying elite units. Earlier this month, Ukraine sent in HUR commandos to stabilise the front. Since then, Russian gains in Sumy have largely stalled, and Ukrainian forces have retaken some ground.

“Now we’re looking for ways to conduct our own assaults and push the enemy back,” WSJ quoted Timur, commander of the Timur Special Forces Unit, an elite unit of HUR that has been fighting in the region for several weeks, as saying.

It isn’t an easy task for Ukrainian forces, which are outnumbered nearly everywhere across the front.

“Their numbers are a big problem for us, though not enough to overrun us,” Kappa, commander of the Chimera unit of the Timur Special Forces Unit, told WSJ.

“The enemy is losing 300 to 400 people per day across the region. But they can deal with that level of casualties…They keep bringing in reserves.”

Earlier this month, a dozen fighters from the Timur Special Forces Unit set out to assault a Russian-held village north of Sumy. But halfway there, in a tree-line trench, they collided with a Russian assault team moving in from the opposite direction.

Outnumbered, they were pinned down for seven hours as Russian forces tried to encircle them, reported WSJ.

“It was the cruelest fight I’ve ever been in,” Mark, the Ukrainian team’s 25-year-old platoon commander, was quoted as saying.

“They were attacking with infantry, drones, grenade launchers, machine guns, artillery, cluster munitions. Everything…We never had more than a five-minute break while they were regrouping,” Mark added.

Mark said his team killed five Russian soldiers during the clash, usually enough to force a platoon to retreat. But these troops were better trained than others he’d faced, and they kept advancing, determined to take the trench.

According to The Wall Street Journal, Helmet-cam footage shows a relentless firefight, gunfire crackling like popping corn. Mark called in mortar strikes while hugging the trench edge as artillery whistled overhead. One machine-gunner fired 5,500 rounds during the battle.

Eventually, the team withdrew, crawling back through brush under mortar fire and drone strikes. All made it out, though three were shot and everyone suffered concussions, added the report.

“I’m really glad we got everyone out alive,” Mark said. “We were in a really tough situation.”

Still, soldiers in the area say holding Sumy is costing more lives than it should.

During the six months Ukraine held ground in Russia’s Kursk region, troops assumed defences were being fortified on the Ukrainian side of the border. But after a chaotic and costly retreat, they returned to find outdated trenches with no overhead cover from drones. In some cases, they’re now digging fresh positions under enemy fire.

They also report that key areas now under Russian advance were left unmined.

“It’s like they prepared for tank columns, not a battlefield where dozens of drones strike daily,” WSJ quoted one infantry commander named Kyrylo, who fought in Kursk and is now fighting in Sumy, as saying.

“Every single day a position isn’t ready is a day someone might not come back.”

Asked about fortifications last week, Defence Minister Rustem Umerov said that the defensive lines in Sumy were being improved in threatened areas.

“Fortification is not just about concrete and trenches—it is an adaptive engineering system that takes the enemy’s tactics into account and always serves one purpose: protecting our warriors,” he was quoted as saying.

With inputs from agencies