KYIV – President Volodymyr Zelensky said Wednesday Ukrainian troops had “advanced well” in Russia’s Kursk region, as Kyiv’s biggest cross-border attack stretched into a second week. 

The Ukrainian army entered the Kursk region on 6 August, capturing dozens of settlements in the biggest offensive by a foreign army on Russian soil since World War II.

“Today, we have advanced well in the Kursk region. We are achieving our strategic goal,” Zelensky said in his evening address.
He had also spoken of gains of “one to two kilometres in different areas since the beginning of the day” in a social media post earlier on Wednesday.

Interior minister Igor Klymenko said Ukraine would create a “buffer zone” in the region to prevent Russian cross-border strikes.
“The creation of a buffer zone in the Kursk region is a step to protect our border communities from daily hostile shelling,” he said.

The neighbouring Russian region of Belgorod, where 11,000 people have been evacuated, declared its own state of emergency, as the governor warned the situation was “extremely difficult” due to Ukrainian shelling and drone attacks.

An AFP analysis of data provided by the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) indicated Ukrainian troops had advanced over an area of at least 800 square kilometres of Russia as of Monday.

Russia said it had repelled Ukrainian attempts to push further into five areas of Kursk.
“The attempts by enemy mobile units using armoured equipment to break through deeper into Russian territory have been repelled,” its defence ministry said.

Since launching its invasion in February 2022, Russia has captured territory in southern and eastern Ukraine, and subjected Ukrainian cities to missile and drone barrages.
US president Joe Biden said Tuesday the incursion had given Russian President Vladimir Putin a “real dilemma”.

More than 120 000 Russians have fled their homes in Kursk’s border areas, with the region’s governor announcing late Wednesday that another district had been evacuated.
Ukraine said it would “open humanitarian corridors” for civilians in the captured territory so they can evacuate towards Russia or Ukraine. 

– Nampa/AFP