Ukraine claims has seized 1,000 sq km in Kursk attack

A top Ukraian commander has claimed his forces have captured 1,000 sq km (386 square miles) of Russiaโ€™s bordering Kursk region, while Russian President, Vladimir Putin, has vowed a โ€œworthy responseโ€ to the offensive and ordered his troops to โ€œdislodge the enemy from our territoriesโ€.

With Russia still struggling to repel the surprise assault a week after it began, Ukraineโ€™s top commander, Oleksandr Syrskyi, briefed President Volodymyr Zelensky by video link and said the advance into Russian territory was ongoing.

โ€œWe continue to conduct an offensive operation in the Kursk region. Currently, we control about 1,000 square kilometres of the territory of the Russian Federation,โ€ he said in a video published on Zelenskyโ€™s Telegram account.

He provided scant other detail, continuing Kyivโ€™s strategy of silence that contrasts starkly with last yearโ€™s counteroffensive which was known about for months in advance and which foundered on Russian defensive lines.

Syrskyi spoke a few hours after Alexei Smirnov, Russiaโ€™s acting regional governor of Kursk, estimated that Kyivโ€™s forces had taken control of 28 settlements in an incursion that was about 12km deep and 40km wide.

Though less than half Syrkyiโ€™s estimate of the Ukrainian gains, Smirnovโ€™s remarks were a striking public admission of a major Russian setback more than 29 months since it launched a full-scale invasion of its smaller neighbour.

It was not possible to verify independently the claims made by either side.

In a televised meeting with government officials, Putin stated that โ€œone of the obvious goals of the enemy is to sow discord, strife, intimidate people, destroy the unity and cohesion of Russian societyโ€.

โ€œThe main task is, of course, for the defence ministry to dislodge the enemy from our territories,โ€ he continued, adding that Kyiv was attempting to gain a better negotiating position in potential talks to end the war and to halt Moscowโ€™s offensive in eastern Ukraine.

121,000 people have fled the Kursk region since the start of the fighting, which has killed at least 12 civilians and injured 121 more, regional governor Alexei Smirnov told the meeting.

Authorities in Kursk announced on Monday they were widening their evacuation area to include Belovsky district, home to 14,000 residents. The neighbouring Belgorod region also said it was evacuating its border district of Krasnoyaruzhsky.

Putin said Russia would respond by showing โ€œunanimous support for all those in distressโ€ and claimed there had been an increase in men signing up to fight. โ€œThe enemy will receive a worthy response,โ€ he said.

Zelensky told Ukrainians in his nightly address on Monday that the operation was a matter of Ukrainian security and the Kursk region had been used by Russia to launch many strikes against Ukraine.

He added Ukraineโ€™s northeastern Sumy region, which lies across the border from Kursk region, had been struck by Russia almost 2,100 times since 1 June.

โ€œRussia must be forced to make peace if Putin wants to fight so badly,โ€ Zelensky said. โ€œRussia brought war to others, and now it is coming home,โ€ he added.

The Ukrainian attack comes after months of slow but steady advances by Russian forces in the east that has forced Ukraineโ€™s troops on to the back foot as they try to withstand Russiaโ€™s heavy use of gliding bombs and assault troops.

Former Ukrainian defence minister Andriy Zagorodnyuk told Reuters the Kursk operation looked like it aimed to distract Russian forces and its leadership from the eastern fronts.

โ€œThe apparent goal is to create a problem area for Russia, which will distract its forces and its leadershipโ€™s attention and resources from where theyโ€™re trying to succeed right now.”

It was not clear if that goal had immediately succeeded. Russiaโ€™s defence ministry said on Monday its troops had โ€œaccelerated the speed of advanceโ€ in the eastern Donetsk region and taken the hamlet of Lysychne in their push towards the city of Pokrovsk.

A Ukrainian security official meanwhile told AFP that Kyiv was โ€œnot pulling back troops from the [Donetsk] areaโ€, while โ€œthe intensity of Russian attacks has gone down a little bitโ€.

The Ukrainian official added he expected Russia would โ€œin the endโ€ stop the Kursk incursion.

The combat inside Russia has also rekindled questions about whether Ukraine is using weaponry supplied by NATO members. Some western countries have balked at allowing Ukraine to use their military aid to hit Russian soil, fearing it would fuel an escalation that might drag Russia and NATO into war.

Though itโ€™s not clear what weapons Ukraine is using across the border, Russian media widely reported that American Bradley and German Marder armoured infantry vehicles were there. The claim can not be independently verified.

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