KYIV(National times)- The Ukrainian military said on Saturday that it had pushed Russian forces back by about 2 kilometres (1.2 miles) on part of the Sumy front in northern Ukraine. There was no immediate comment from Russia, which controls a little over 200 square kilometres in the region, according to Ukraine’s battlefield mapping project DeepState. “Ukrainian soldiers continue active combat actions to destroy the enemy and liberate our settlements,” the Ukrainian general staff wrote on Facebook. It added that fighting was raging near the villages of Oleksiivka and Yunakivka, which lie 5 km and 7 km from the Russian border respectively. The ebb and flow of the battlefield lines have taken on greater political significance in recent days as Ukraine finds itself at another critical diplomatic juncture with US President Donald Trump stepping up his efforts to broker an end to the war. The US leader said he and Russian leader Vladimir Putin had “determined” there should be no ceasefire and he would now focus on a quick deal to end the war that has raged since 2022. Russian troops earlier this week advanced up to 10 km near Dobropillia in Ukraine’s east, raising fears of a wider breakthrough that would further threaten key cities. The Ukrainian military later said it had managed to halt the assault and push Russians back. President Volodymyr Zelenskiy described the Russian thrust as a failed attempt by Moscow to display battlefield strength ahead of Friday’s summit between Putin and Trump in Alaska. He predicted more such efforts in a statement on Saturday. “…we anticipate that in the coming days the Russian army may try to increase pressure and strikes against Ukrainian positions to create more favourable political circumstances for talks,” he said.