Ukraine says its forces are continuing their advance into Russian territory, advancing in several directions.
The Russian border region of Kursk was unexpectedly attacked last week, prompting Russian authorities to declare a state of emergency in the region.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said troops had advanced one to two kilometers further into the Kursk region since Wednesday morning and captured 100 Russian soldiers, but Russia claims it has stopped further advances.
This is now the second week of Ukraine’s deepest incursion into Russia since Moscow launched its large-scale invasion in 2022.
The extent of the territory conquered by Russia is unclear; both countries provide contradictory information.
Major General Apti Alaudinov, commander of the Chechen special forces unit Akhmat, told viewers of the state-controlled Russian television Channel One that Russian forces had almost “completely blocked” the advance of the Ukrainian military.
But in a video link with President Zelensky, army chief Oleksandr Syrskyi said Ukrainian troops now had complete control of the Kursk border town of Sudzha.
The BBC cannot independently verify this claim, but a Ukrainian television report filmed from the city showed Ukrainian soldiers removing a Russian flag from a school.
In response to Kyiv’s claims of territorial gains, Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesman Heorhiy Tykhy said they were not interested in “taking over” Russian territory.
“The sooner Russia agrees to restore a just peace, the sooner the attacks by Ukrainian forces on Russia will stop,” he told reporters.
At an earlier meeting with government officials, Zelensky said he would consider setting up “military commanders’ offices” in the region.
On Wednesday, Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk outlined plans for a “security zone” in Kursk to protect Ukraine’s borders.
In its Telegram post, it said Ukraine would organize humanitarian assistance for Russian civilians inside the security zone and open evacuation corridors to both Russia and Ukraine.
Jan Furtsev, a local official of the Russian liberal opposition party Yabloko, described the situation in the Kursk region as “tense”.
“Citizens who leave their homes are in a very difficult psychological situation,” he told BBC Radio 4’s “The World Tonight,” adding that they were experiencing a lot of “stress and sadness.”
According to Furtsev, around 180,000 civilians need to be evacuated. So far, 121,000 people have left, he said, and everyone needs essentials such as food and clothing.
Russia had previously declared a second state of emergency, this time in the neighboring Belgorod region, where houses were damaged by drone strikes and artillery fire.
Moscow said it shot down 117 drones overnight, mainly targeting four regions – Kursk, Voronezh, Belgorod and Nizhny Novgorod.
Long-range drones were also fired at Russian airfields in Voronezh and Kursk, as well as at Savasleyka and Borisoglebsk, Ukrainian security services told AFP.
The Ukrainian military quoted an intelligence source as saying it was a “fun” night at the airports, a specially planned operation.
In his first comments on the operation since it began, US President Joe Biden said the offensive “presents a real dilemma for Putin”.
Meanwhile, several European allies have expressed their support for Ukraine.
The prime ministers of Finland and Estonia said they supported the Ukrainian military operation in Kursk, while Latvia’s foreign minister went further and said Kyiv “has the right” to use NATO weapons on Russian territory.
President Putin had previously described this as a “red line.”
The German Foreign Ministry said last week that Ukraine has a right to self-defense, which “is not limited to its own territory.”
