MOSCOW, April 6, 2025 (BSS/AFP) - Russia's defence ministry on Sunday claimed the capture of a village in Ukraine's Sumy region in a rare cross-border advance.

"A unit of the North group of forces during offensive actions liberated the village of Basovka in Sumy region," the ministry said in a statement, using the Russian name for the village of Basivka close to the border with Russia's Kursk region.

Russia in early March claimed the capture of a Sumy region village for the first time since the early days of the war in 2022, saying troops had taken Novenke, a few kilometres from Basivka.

President Vladimir Putin in March said that Russian forces had crossed the border, with state media reporting that this referred to the Sumy region. 

But Ukraine said its troops were pushing back attempts by small groups of Russian soldiers attempting to enter its territory.

Ukraine's troops mounted an incursion into Russia's Kursk region last August but Moscow has recently reclaimed much of this territory.