kyiv claimed new advances in the Russian region of Kursk on Thursday, on the ninth day of its offensive, with the Russian army claiming to have retaken a village there and captured another in eastern Ukraine.
Ukrainian forces attacked the border region on August 6, seizing dozens of towns in what is the largest foreign military operation on Russian soil since World War II.
Ukrainian Army Commander Oleksandr Syrsky claimed on Thursday an advance of 35 kilometers in depth for total control of 1,150 km2 and 82 localities, eight more than on Tuesday.
President Volodymyr Zelensky announced that his forces had “completely liberated” the Russian city of Sudja, a town of 5,500 inhabitants located about ten kilometers from the border and which represents the main conquest of the Ukrainian forces in the framework of this offensive.
In a sign of the Ukrainian forces’ intention to establish themselves in the long term, General Syrsky announced the creation of a military administration in the region, responsible for day-to-day affairs, logistics and ensuring security.
Caught off guard by highly mobile Ukrainian motorized groups that easily crossed the border, the Kremlin’s army has since assured that it had mobilized reinforcements and announced for the first time on Thursday that it had retaken a village in the region, that of Kroupets.
Russian Defense Minister Andrei Belousov also reported Thursday “the allocation of additional forces and resources” to the Belgorod region, which borders Kursk. The situation there is “extremely tense,” according to its governor Vyacheslav Gladkov.
“Difficult” situation in the East
On the Ukrainian side of the border, in Sumy, AFP journalists attended the funerals of six Ukrainian soldiers killed during the Kursk offensive on Thursday.
The families, in tears and dressed in black, listened to the priest deliver a funeral oration.
“Our task is to pray for our heroic fighters and their families,” he said. Air raid sirens sounded at the end of the ceremony.
The offensive in the Kursk region is Ukraine’s first major advance since its successful counteroffensives in late 2022. Volodymyr Zelensky, who has called the attack “moving” the war to Russia, said hundreds of Russian soldiers had been taken prisoner since August 6.
It has given a second wind to the Ukrainian army, which, since the failure of another counter-offensive in the summer of 2023, has been retreating in the Donetsk region (east) in the face of more numerous and better armed Russian forces.
Ukrainian authorities have given various reasons for the attack on Russia: to force Moscow to withdraw its troops from other parts of the front, to create a “buffer zone” in Russian territory against bombing, or to use it as a bargaining chip in possible negotiations.
The pressure does not seem to be easing in eastern Ukraine, where most of the fighting is still taking place. Moscow claimed on Thursday the capture of the village of Ivanivka, about fifteen kilometers from the city of Pokrovsk, an important logistics hub.
According to the commander of the Ukrainian army Oleksandr Syrsky, the situation on the Eastern and Southern fronts remains “difficult but under control.”
Humanitarian corridors
In Kursk, the capital of the eponymous region, AFP journalists saw around 500 people evacuated during a food and clothing distribution run by the Russian Red Cross on Thursday.
According to authorities, more than 120,000 people have fled the fighting and shelling, and nearly 2,000 others may be in areas occupied by the Ukrainian army.
At least 12 civilians have been killed and more than 120 injured, including children, since the start of the Ukrainian operation, according to a report from Russian authorities provided at the beginning of the week.
Ukraine, through its Deputy Prime Minister, Iryna Vereshchuk, announced on Wednesday that its army planned to open humanitarian corridors in the Kursk region to facilitate the evacuation of civilians “both towards Russia and Ukraine.”
During the night, it released a telephone number for those concerned.
The governor of the Russian Kursk region, Alexei Smirnov, announced on the night of Wednesday to Thursday the evacuation of an additional district, that of Glushkovsky.