Ukraine presses its biggest cross-border incursion into Russia

Ukraine has claimed control of about 1,000 sq km of Russian territory as Kyiv presses its biggest cross-border incursion.

Army chief Oleksandr Syrskyii said on Monday that Ukraine continues to conduct an offensive operation in the Kursk region seven days after it began.

The top military commander says his forces now control 1,000 square kilometers (386 square miles) of Russia’s neighbouring Kursk region, the first time a Ukrainian military official has publicly commented on the gains of the lightning incursion that has embarrassed the Kremlin.

“The troops are fulfilling their tasks. Fighting continues, actually, along the entire front line. The situation is under our control,” Syrskyi said in a video posted Monday to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s Telegram channel.

His claims were backed up by the governor of the Kursk region, who acknowledged that Ukrainian mobile groups advanced 12 km deep and 40 km wide into Russian territory.

Alexei Smirnov claimed that Kyiv’s forces now control 28 settlements with a population of around 2,000 people.

Russian forces are still scrambling to respond to the surprise Ukrainian attack after almost a week of fierce fighting.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said the incursion, which has caused more than 100,000 civilians to flee, is an attempt by Kyiv to stop Moscow’s offensive in eastern Ukraine’s Donbas region and gain leverage in possible future peace talks.

Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, confirmed for the first time that the Ukrainian military is inside the Kursk region.

On Telegram, he praised his country’s soldiers and commanders “for their steadfastness and decisive actions.” He did not elaborate.

The Ukrainian operation is under tight secrecy, and its goals remain unclear. The stunning maneuver that caught the Kremlin’s forces off guard counters Russia’s unrelenting effort in recent months to punch through Ukrainian defenses at selected points along the front line in eastern Ukraine.

Putin vows Moscow’s army will prevail

Speaking Monday at a meeting with top security and defense officials, Putin said the attack that began on 6 August appeared to reflect Kyiv’s attempt to achieve a better negotiating position in possible future talks to end the war. He insisted that Moscow’s army would prevail.

Putin said Ukraine may have hoped the attack would cause public unrest in Russia, but that it has failed to do so, and he claimed the number of volunteers to join the Russian military has increased because of the assault. He said Russian forces will carry on with their offensive in eastern Ukraine.

“It’s obvious that the enemy will keep trying to destabilise the situation in the border zone to try to destabilise the domestic political situation in our country,” Putin said.

Russia’s main task is to “drive the enemy out of our territories and, together with the border service, to ensure reliable cover of the state border.”

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Acting Kursk governor Alexei Smirnov reported to Putin that Ukrainian forces had pushed 12 kilometres (7.5 miles) into the Kursk region across a 40-kilometre (25-mile) front and currently control 28 Russian settlements.

At least 12 killed, thousands evacuated

Smirnov said 12 civilians have been killed and 121 others, including 10 children, have been wounded. About 121, 000 people have been evacuated or left the areas affected by fighting on their own, he said.

Tracking down all the Ukrainian units that are roaming the region and creating diversions is difficult, Smirnov said, noting that some are using fake Russian IDs.

The governor of the Belgorod region adjacent to Kursk also announced the evacuation of people from a district near the Ukrainian border.

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Zelenskyy said the territory now controlled by Ukrainian forces was used to strike Ukraine’s Sumy region many times, adding that it is “absolutely fair to destroy Russian terrorists where they are.”

“Russia brought war to others. Now it is coming home,” he said in a video posted on Telegram.

Russia has seen previous incursions into its territory during the nearly 2-and-a-half-year war, but the foray into the Kursk region marked the largest attack on its soil since World War II, constituting a milestone in the hostilities.

It was also the first time the Ukrainian army have spearheaded an incursion rather than pro-Ukraine Russian fighters.

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