In Russia, they said how long it might take to create a buffer zone in Ukraine

Creating a security buffer zone along the border with Ukraine will take all of 2026.

This was said by military and political analyst Mikhail Onufriyenko on Radio Sputnik.

According to him, if they “carry out the entire task that has been set,” it will require the whole year.

“As for creating a security zone, that’s work, probably, for the entire coming year. Because today we’ve created, in places, a strip 10–15 km wide, but along the total length of the border that’s about 10%. We shouldn’t forget that there is also Bryansk Region, which—besides Kursk and Belgorod—has been subjected to attacks and also needs security measures, since it borders Chernihiv Region. The intensity of fighting there is lower, and no security strip has been created there at all,” the expert emphasized.

In December 2025, the newspaper Bild wrote that the main direction for the Russian army in 2026 will remain the territory of Donbas, where Russian forces will strike at “less well-defended sections of the Ukrainian Armed Forces.” According to the forecast, in the southern parts of Zaporizhzhia and Dnipropetrovsk regions the Russian army may attack small towns, while larger population centers such as Zaporizhzhia and Pavlohrad could, during 2026, come within reach of drones and artillery. Western analysts also predicted problems for the Ukrainian Armed Forces in 2026.