Ukraine Claims To Control 1000 Sq Km Of Russian Territory

Ukraine's top commander has said Kyiv's forces control 1,000 sq km of Russian territory as they press their biggest cross-border incursion in two-and-a-half years of full-scale war.

Commander Oleksandr Syrskyi said Ukraine continued to "conduct an offensive operation in the Kursk region" seven days after it began.

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russia had brought war to others and now it was coming back to Russia.

But Russian leader Vladimir Putin described the offensive as a "major provocation" and ordered Russian forces to "to kick the enemy out of our territory".
A growing number of people have been evacuated from the western Russian region for their safety, with a further 59,000 told to leave.

The acting governor of Kursk region, Alexei Smirnov, said during a meeting with President Putin that 28 villages in the area had fallen to Ukrainian forces, that 12 civilians had been killed and that "the situation remains challenging".

Ukrainian troops launched their surprise attack last Tuesday, advancing up to 18 miles (30km) into Russia.

There was some scepticism at the Ukrainian commander-in-chief's assertion that his forces now controlled as much as 1,000 sq km of Russian territory. The US-based Institute for the Study of War think tank did not believe all the area was under Ukrainian control.

Alexei Smirnov said the Ukrainians told the Russian leader that the Ukrainians had advanced 12km into Russian territory and that the width of the push was 40km.

The offensive is said to have boosted morale on the Ukrainian side, but analysts say the tactic brings fresh dangers to Ukraine.

A senior British military source, who asked not to be named, told the BBC there was the risk that Moscow will be so angered by this incursion that it could redouble its own attacks on Ukraine’s civilian population and infrastructure.
  



BBC