Russian troops are being pulled together to the borders of Kharkiv and Sumy regions, 60-70 thousand military personnel are already concentrated there. It is reported by the British TV channel Sky News.
Sky News military analyst Michael Clarke believes that these forces are necessary to bind the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the north, but this "does not mean that they are going to capture cities throughout the Kharkiv region."
"They definitely have troops on their side of the border, they have 60-70 thousand troops there," he says.
According to the expert, these forces are capable of creating a kind of buffer zone, which was mentioned by Russian President Vladimir Putin.
"Can they take Kharkov? Almost certainly not. But can they take over the territories around it? Yes, they probably can ... and if they insist, they will have about four months to do it, as long as the weather allows," the expert noted.
As EADaily reported, it was decided to create a security buffer zone along the border, the Russian military is solving this task. This was stated at an operational meeting with members of the government by Russian President Vladimir Putin.