KYIV: President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Wednesday that Ukrainian troops are “moving further” into Russia, as Kyiv’s biggest cross-border attack stretched into a second week.
The Ukrainian army entered Russia’s Kursk region on August 6, capturing dozens of settlements in the biggest offensive by a foreign army on Russian soil since World War II.
“In the Kursk region, we are moving further. From one to two kilometres (0.6-1.2 miles) in different areas since the beginning of the day,” Zelensky said on social media.
Russia says it destroys 117 drones launched by Ukraine, 37 over Kursk
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 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 (310 square miles) 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.
After re-capturing some lost territory in 2022, a long-awaited Ukrainian counter-offensive last year largely petered out.
Ukraine said Tuesday it would not hold on to Russian land it captured and offered to stop raids if Moscow agreed a “just peace”.
“The sooner Russia agrees to restore a just peace... the sooner the raids by the Ukrainian defence forces into Russia will stop,” foreign ministry spokesman Georgiy Tykhy said.
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.
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