KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine's top military commander says his forces now control 1,000 square kilometers (386 square miles) of Russia's neighboring Kursk region, the first time a Ukrainian military official has commented publicly on the gains of the lightning incursion. Embarrassed the Kremlin.
Gen. Oleksandr Chirsky made the statement in a video posted Monday to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's Telegram channel. In that video, he explained the front line situation to the President.
« The troops are carrying out their tasks. The fighting continues on the entire front line. The situation is under our control, » Chirsky said.
Russian forces are still struggling to retaliate Ukraine attack shock After almost a week of fierce fighting.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said it was Kiev's effort to stop the incursion, which has led more than 100,000 citizens to flee. Attack of Moscow In the Donbass region of eastern Ukraine, it may influence future peace talks.
Zelenskyy confirmed for the first time that the Ukrainian army was operating inside the Kursk region. In the telegram, he praised his country's soldiers and commanders for « their determination and decisive actions ». He did not elaborate.
Speaking at a meeting with top security and defense officials on Monday, Putin appeared to be reflecting Kiev's attempt to reach a better negotiating position in future talks that could end the offensive that began on August 6. War. He insisted that Moscow's army would win.
Putin said Ukraine may have hoped the attack would cause public unrest in Russia, but failed to achieve that goal, adding that the attack had led to an increase in volunteers to join the Russian military. He said Russian forces would continue their offensive in eastern Ukraine regardless.
AP Washington correspondent Sagar Meghani reports that Ukraine's top military commander now controls nearly 400 square miles of Russian territory after a lightning incursion that embarrassed Moscow.
« It is obvious that the enemies will try to destabilize the situation in the border zone to destabilize the domestic political situation in our country, » Putin said. Russia's main task is « to withdraw, expel the enemy from our territories and, together with the border service, ensure reliable security of the state border. »
Ukrainian forces have pushed a 40-kilometer (25-mile) front into the Kursk region by 12 kilometers (7.5 miles) and now control 28 Russian settlements, acting Kursk governor Alexei Smirnov told Putin.
Smirnov said 12 civilians were killed and 121 injured, including 10 children, in the operation. About 121,000 people have either been displaced or have fled fighting-affected areas on their own, he said.
Smirnov said it was difficult to track all Ukrainian units roaming the region and create diversions, noting that some were using fake Russian IDs.
The governor of Belgorod region near Kursk also announced the evacuation of people from a district near the Ukrainian border.
After launching the offensive, Ukrainian forces quickly retreated into the town of Chudja, about 10 kilometers (6 mi) along the border. They are said to still hold the western part of the city, the site of an important natural gas station.
The Ukrainian operation is under tight secrecy and its goals are unclear. The A stunning maneuver It pitted Kremlin forces against Russia's counter-defenses Unrelenting effort to punch through Ukrainian defenses at selected points on the front line in eastern Ukraine in recent months.
Zelenskyy said that territory now controlled by Ukrainian forces had been used several times to attack Ukraine's Sumy region, adding that it was « absolutely justified to destroy Russian terrorists where they are. »
« Russia brought war to others. Now it is coming home, » he said in a video posted on his Telegram channel.
Russia had seen previous incursions into its territory during the nearly 2 1/2-year war, but the incursion into the Kursk region marked the largest offensive on its soil since World War II, marking a milestone in the war. This is the first time that the Ukrainian military has led an incursion ahead of Ukrainian-backed Russian militias.
The development was a blow to Putin's efforts to ensure that life in Russia was largely unaffected by the war. State propaganda tried to play down the attack, emphasizing the efforts of the authorities to help the residents of the region and trying to divert the attention of the army, which had prepared for the attack and failed to quickly repel it.
Residents of Kursk recorded videos lamenting that they had to flee the border region, leaving behind their belongings and begging Putin for help. But Russia's state-controlled media kept a tight lid on any expression of dissent.
Retired general Andrey Kurulev, a member of the lower house of the Russian parliament, criticized the army for failing to properly secure the border.
« Unfortunately, the group of border guarding forces does not have its own intelligence assets, » he said on his messaging app channel. « No one likes to see the truth in reports, everyone likes to hear that it's good. »
The fighting inside Russia has again raised the question of whether Ukraine is using weapons provided by NATO members. Some Western countries have blocked allowing Ukraine to use their military aid to attack Russian soil, fearing it would trigger an escalation that would drag Russia and NATO into war.
While it is unclear what weapons Ukraine is using along the border, Russian media have widely reported the presence of American Bradley and German Mortar armored personnel carriers. The claim could not be independently verified.
Ukraine already used US weapons to attack inside Russia.
Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said in an interview published Monday that weapons provided by his country « cannot be used to attack Russia on its territory. »
Meanwhile, German Defense Ministry spokesman Arne Collatz said on Monday that legal experts agree, « International law allows a self-defending state to defend itself in the territory of an aggressor. This is clear from our point of view. »
Russia's Defense Ministry said on Monday that reinforcements sent to the area, backed by air forces and artillery, had repelled seven attacks by Ukrainian units near Martynovka, Borki and Korenevo in the previous 24 hours.
Russian forces also thwarted an attempt by Ukrainian mobile groups to penetrate deep into Russian territory near Gauchuk, the ministry said.
Pasi Paroinen, an analyst at the Finland-based Blackbird Group open-source intelligence that monitors the war, said the hardest phase of Ukraine's incursion would now begin as Russian reserves entered the field.
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