Ukraine’s top military commander on Monday said that his forces now control 1,000km2 of Russia’s neighboring Kursk region, the first time a Ukrainian military official has publicly commented on the gains of the lightning incursion that has embarrassed the Kremlin.
General Oleksandr Syrskyi made the statement in a video posted on Monday to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s Telegram channel. In the video, he briefed the president on the frontline situation.
“The troops are fulfilling their tasks. Fighting continues actually along the entire front line. The situation is under our control,” Syrskyi said.
Photo: AFP
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.
Zelenskiy confirmed for the first time that the Ukrainian military is inside the Kursk region. On Telegram, he praised his nation’s troops 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 to punch through Ukrainian defenses at selected points along the front line in eastern Ukraine.
Speaking on Monday at a meeting with top security and defense officials, Putin said the attack that began on Tuesday last week appeared to reflect Kyiv’s attempt to achieve a better negotiating position in possible future talks to end the war. He insisted Moscow’s army would prevail.
Putin said Ukraine might 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 who have joined the Russian military has increased because of the assault. He said Russian forces would carry on with their offensive in eastern Ukraine regardless.
“It’s obvious that the enemy will keep trying to destabilize the situation in the border zone to try to destabilize 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.”
Acting Kursk Governor Alexei Smirnov reported to Putin that Ukrainian forces had pushed 12km into the Kursk region across a 40km front and control 28 Russian settlements.
Smirnov said 12 civilians had been killed and 121 others, including 10 children, had 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, adding that some are using fake Russian IDs.
The governor of Belgorod region adjacent to Kursk also announced the evacuation of people from a district near the Ukrainian border.
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