Ukraine’s F-16s strike 50,000 Russian troops just 30 kilometers from Sumy Oblast

[Starmix]

As reported, Russia has 50,000 troops threatening to besiege Sumy, a city with a pre-war population of 250,000, just 30 kilometers from the border. The Ukrainian air force is sortying its small fleet of ex-European F-16s to drop American-made glide bombs on Russian regiments rolling into Sumy Oblast, Euromaidan Press reports. Two months after an elite Russian drone group cut the supply lines feeding the Ukrainian force clinging to a 600-square-km salient around the town of Sudzha in western Russia’s Kursk Oblast—ultimately driving the Ukrainians from Kursk after a bitter, six-month battle—the Russians are pressing their advantage on the northern front of their 39-month wider war on Ukraine. In all, there are no fewer than 50,000 Russian troops in Kursk. The Ukrainian brigades holding the line in Sumy, just across the border from Kursk, have many fewer troops—especially now that at least one formation, the elite 82nd Air Assault Brigade, has rushed south to Donetsk Oblast to block a Russian attack on the town of Kostiantynivka, a critical strongpoint in Ukrainian defenses in the east, Euromaidan Press says

The arrival of the 82nd Air Assault Brigade and other reinforcements in the east has helped to slow the Russian advance along the stretch of front line between Pokrovsk and Chasiv Yar—could save Kramatorsk and other key cities comprising the so-called “fortress belt” threading through Donetsk toward the border in the north. But it’s already come at the cost of some border villages in Sumy. And if the Ukrainians aren’t careful, they could lose the villages of Yunakivka and Vodolahy. Worse, the city of Sumy itself, 30 km from the border, could come under siege, Euromaidan Press reports.“On the Sumy direction, the enemy offensive is intensifying,” the Ukrainian Center for Defense Strategies warned. “The Kursk group of forces is concentrating reserves in the border zone, attempting to break through between Yunakivka and Vodolahy.” Ukrainian ground forces are stretched thin defending against separate Russian offensives in the north and east, so Ukrainian air power is filling the gaps.

The Ukrainian air force has received just a few dozen of the 85 American-built F-16 fighters that a Danish-Dutch-Norwegian consortium has pledged from European surplus stocks. Three of the single-engine, supersonic fighters have been lost since they first flew into action in August. The F-16s are precious assets, but the dire situation in Sumy warrants risking them. The pro-Ukraine Conflict Intelligence Team noted F-16s lobbing US-supplied Small Diameter Bombs—114-kg precision glide bombs—at Russian forces in and around Kursk. The application of F-16s in this role came as somewhat of a surprise,” Ukrainian Center for Defense Strategies observed, “as they were initially utilized as ‘flying air defense’ deep within Ukrainian territory and only began appearing near the front line in the Sumy region in late winter 2025, accompanying MiG-29 fighter aircraft that launched guided aerial bombs.”“It is possible that the Ukrainian air force has begun using their F-16s closer to the front line due to the recent arrival of new aircraft or due to an acute need to increase firepower,” the Ukrainian Center for Defense Strategies proposed.

If only Putin had submitted the documents requested by Trump requiring him to submit, this would never have happened to Russia. He remains stubborn. Just imagine, the Kursk group of forces is concentrating reserves in the border zone, attempting to break through between Yunakivka and Vodolahy.” Ukrainian ground forces are stretched thin defending against separate Russian offensives in the north and east, so Ukrainian air power is filling the gaps. This is alarming that the war between these two countries would escalate wider leaving all residents dead.