Ukraine is achieving its strategic goal in Kursk operation, Zelenskyy says

Data suggests troops have advanced over an area of at least 800 square kilometres into Russia

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Ukraine would keep the Russian land it captured and offered to stop raids if Moscow agreed. Getty Images

Ukrainian troops are “moving further” into Russia, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Wednesday as Kyiv's biggest cross-border attack entered its second week.

Troops captured dozens of settlements in Russia's Kursk region on August 6 – the biggest offensive by a foreign army on Russian soil since the Second World War.

“In the Kursk region, we are moving further. From one to two kilometres in different areas since the beginning of the day,” Mr Zelenskyy said on social media.

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Mr Zelenskyy also hailed Ukraine's “good advance” in the Kursk region, saying Kyiv was achieving its strategic goal in the operation.

In his nightly address, Mr Zelenskyy appealed to partners to allow long-range strikes on targets inside Russia.

“The bolder the partners' decisions, the less Putin can do,” he said.

Ukraine would create a “buffer zone” in the region to prevent Russian cross-border strikes, Interior Minister Igor Klymenko said.

“The creation of a buffer zone in the Kursk region is a step to protect our border communities from daily hostile shelling,” he added.

The neighbouring Russian region of Belgorod declared a 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 indicated that 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.

After recapturing some lost territory, 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 to 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 on Tuesday the incursion had given Russian President Vladimir Putin a “real dilemma”.

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More than 120,000 Russians have fled their homes in Kursk's border areas.

Ukraine said it would “open humanitarian corridors” for civilians in the captured territory so they can evacuate towards Russia or Ukraine. It also said it would let “international humanitarian organisations” into the area.

Footage from Ukrainian TSN news, purportedly taken inside the Kursk town of Sudzha showed Ukrainian soldiers climbing on top of a building and removing a Russian flag, shouting “Glory to Ukraine”.

Russians in Moscow told AFP they were concerned by Ukraine's operation, which caught the Kremlin off guard.

“I have relatives living there and they refuse to leave. It's really hard,” said saleswoman Yulia Rusakova.

“This whole situation is a big blow. It's very hard to lead a normal, calm life, knowing that such things are happening there,” she said.

Olga Raznoglazova, an account manager visiting from the Kursk region, said she felt the operation had brought the war closer.

“Now, when it is happening right next door to us … it is a completely different feeling,” she said. “It's very worrying.”

Mr Putin has vowed to “dislodge” Ukrainian troops from Russian territory, accusing the neighbour of using the operation to “improve its negotiating position” in any future talks.

On the Ukraine side of a border with Kursk, AFP reporters saw evidence of the intensity of the fighting.

Concrete fortifications lay toppled and the remains of security and customs buildings could be seen caved in.

On the road, about 10 blindfolded and bound men in Russian military attire were being driven in a military vehicle away from the border crossing in the direction of the city of Sumy on Tuesday.

The Russians “didn't protect the border,” a Ukrainian serviceman who took part in the offensive and identified himself as Ruzhyk told AFP in Sumy region.

“They only had anti-personnel mines scattered around trees at the side of the road and a few mines that they managed to quickly throw along the highways,” he said.