Putin: Russia Working to Establish Security Strip Amid Cross-Border Attacks

Russian military forces are working to establish a security buffer zone along the border with Ukraine, President Vladimir Putin announced during a meeting with government officials.

"A decision has been made to create a necessary buffer security zone along the border. Our armed forces are now carrying out this task. Enemy firing positions are being actively suppressed — the work is ongoing,” Putin said.

He noted that the Belgorod, Bryansk, and Kursk regions have been suffering from shelling, drone attacks, and sabotage operations. Putin visited the Kursk region on May 20, marking his first visit there since Russian forces reestablished control over the territory.

During the visit, he met with acting regional governor Alexander Khinshtein, volunteer organizations, and local municipal leaders. He also toured the construction site of the Kursk Nuclear Power Plant-2 near Kurchatov.

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A buffer zone, also historically known as a march, is a neutral area that lies between two or more bodies of land; usually, between countries. Depending on the type of buffer zone, it may serve to separate regions or conjoin them. Common types of buffer zones are demilitarized zones, border zones and certain restrictive easement zones and green belts. Such zones may be comprised by a sovereign state, forming a buffer state. Buffer zones have various purposes, politically or otherwise. They can be set up for a multitude of reasons, such as to prevent violence, protect the environment, shield residential and commercial zones from industrial accidents or natural disasters, or even isolate prisons. Buffer zones often result in large uninhabited regions that are themselves noteworthy in many increasingly developed or crowded parts of the world that unintentionally create a de facto wildlife sanctuary.