The Ukrainian Joint Forces Group denied this Sunday (December 21, 2025) reports in some media about the presence of Russian soldiers in Riasne in the Sumi region (northwestern Ukraine), while fighting continues in the neighboring village of Grabovske, from where around fifty residents were forcibly transferred to Russia on Saturday.
“Clarification on the attempted advance of the occupying forces in the Sumi region. Fighting is currently ongoing in the village of Grabovske. Ukrainian defenders are making efforts to drive the occupiers towards Russian territory. Despite some information in the media, there is currently no Russian presence in the neighboring village of Riasne,” the statement published on Facebook said.
50 civilians kidnapped
The General Directorate of Communications of the Armed Forces of Ukraine previously confirmed that Russian troops crossed the border into Ukraine near Grabovske in the municipality of Kasnopillia and, after taking the town, about fifty civilians, mostly elderly men and women, who had previously refused to be evacuated to other areas of Ukraine, were forcibly transferred to Russia.
He specified that “as a result of the rapid advance of the enemy, units of the Ukrainian Defense Forces have been withdrawn from several positions in the Grabovsk area,” adding that “stabilization measures are being carried out” in the border region, which falls under the jurisdiction of the Joint Forces Group.
The spokesman for the United Armed Forces of Ukraine, Viktor Tregubov, referred to the border crossing of Russian troops near Grabovske and the forcible relocation of about fifty residents of this village to provocative Russian territory.
According to Tregubov, “These are not strategic objectives, but rather the selective abduction of people for some kind of attack, possibly political or informational.”
(mn/efe, afp)
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