Sumy front exposes grinding forest war as Ukraine and Russia trade gains near Bachivsk and Stepok
Low-intensity but relentless combat in Sumy Oblast has seen Russian troops edge forward near Stepok while Ukrainian forces push them back from Bachivsk, Tovstodubove and forested grey zones north of Sumy City. The slow-motion contest in these villages and woods is reshaping the security map along Ukraine’s northern border.
Ukraine’s Sumy region is locked in a slow, grinding fight that rarely makes headlines but steadily redraws the front line along the country’s northern border with Russia.
Over the past few weeks, Russian forces have improved their positions on the Krasnopillya axis, moving deeper into the village of Stepok and taking new ground toward its western outskirts. They have also established control over nearby forested areas, according to battlefield reporting, shifting the local balance in terrain that offers cover for small-unit operations and infiltration.
To the north and west, however, Ukrainian troops have been clawing back territory. On the Khotin and Yunakivka directions, Ukrainian units conducted a series of clearing operations and counterattacks over the last three weeks. Their main focus was the grey-zone forests north of Sumy City, areas previously used by Russian units to slip across the border, stage raids, or threaten Ukrainian positions and settlements.
Those operations pushed Russian forces out of several positions south of Kindrativka and reduced their ability to operate in the immediate outskirts of the city. On the Hlukhiv axis, Ukrainian forces cleared the surroundings of Bachivsk and Tovstodubove from earlier Russian infiltrations and re-established control over most of Bachivsk, a border settlement that had been partly under Russian influence. Other Russian assault groups are reported to be operating near surrounding villages such as Velykyi Prykil and Progres, signaling that the contest over this strip of territory is very much ongoing.
For civilians in these districts, the ebb and flow of control is not an abstract map problem. Each small Russian advance closer to a road junction or village edge raises the risk of artillery fire, drone reconnaissance, and sudden ground raids. Each Ukrainian counterattack that restores control brings back local authorities and some measure of normal life, but with the understanding that the line can shift again with the next round of fighting.
Operationally, the Sumy front is different from the heavy mechanized battles seen in parts of Donetsk or Luhansk. The landscape of forests, fields, and small settlements lends itself to infiltration, ambushes, and company-sized assaults aimed at better firing positions rather than major breakthroughs. Both sides appear to be using limited assault groups instead of committing large armored formations, trading short bursts of fighting for more nimble repositioning.
Strategically, this matters because the Sumy region offers Russia options: pressure on Sumy City itself, the possibility of threatening rail and road links deeper into Ukraine, and the ability to force Kyiv to keep significant forces tied down away from hotter sectors in the east and south. For Ukraine, maintaining control over border villages such as Bachivsk and forest belts north of the regional capital is part of a broader effort to prevent any new northern offensive from gathering momentum.
The back-and-forth along this front also tests both armies’ ability to sustain dispersed operations. Units must navigate dense tree lines, mined paths, and limited road networks, all under the eyes of drones. Logistics become harder, casualty evacuation slower, and command and control more fragile than on open steppe terrain.
Signs worth watching include whether Russian forces consolidate their gains near Stepok into hardened positions or attempt larger pushes toward Krasnopillya and Sumy City, and whether Ukrainian counterattacks can fully secure Bachivsk and the surrounding forests. Any shift from "low-intensity" skirmishing to sustained assaults, or visible reinforcement of either side in Sumy Oblast, would suggest that this border theater is moving closer to the center of the war’s next phase.
Sources
- OSINT