IRIA News

Ukraine’s top military commander has claimed that his forces now control 1,000 square kilometers (386 square miles) of Russia’s neighboring Kursk region in the biggest cross-border incursion in two-and-a-half years of full-scale war.

“At this point in time, we have nearly 1,000 sq km of Russian territory under our control,” Ukraine’s Gen. Oleksandr Syrskyi said in a video posted Monday to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s Telegram channel. “The troops are fulfilling their tasks. Fighting continues actually along the entire front line. The situation is under our control,” Syrskyi said in the video.

This is the first time a Ukrainian military official has publicly commented on the gains of the lightning incursion that has embarrassed the Kremlin. Russian forces are scrambling to respond to the surprise Ukrainian attack after almost a week of fighting.

Kursk residents recorded videos pleading for help, lamenting they had to flee the border area, leaving behind their belongings. Retired Gen. Andrei Gurulev, a member of the lower house of the Russian parliament, criticized the military for failing to properly protect the border. “Regrettably, the group of forces protecting the border didn’t have its own intelligence assets,” he said on his messaging app. “No one likes to see the truth in reports, everybody just wants to hear that all is good.”

Ukrainian regional officials said on August 12 that they are in control of 28 settlements in Kursk Oblast, one week after launching a surprise attack into Russian territory.

Zelenskyy confirms military operation inside Russia’s Kursk region

Ukrainian President Zelenskyy confirmed for the first time that the Ukrainian military is operating inside the Kursk region. On Telegram, he praised his country’s soldiers and commanders “for their steadfastness and decisive actions.” In his first full acknowledgment of the incursion, Zelenskyy called it a “defensive action” and said he had asked the security services and interior ministry to prepare a “humanitarian plan” for the area held by Ukrainian forces.

The Ukrainian operation is taking place under tight secrecy, and its goals remain unclear at the moment. However, what is certain is that the incursion delivered a blow to Putin’s efforts to show that life in Russia has been largely unaffected by the war.

Meeting of the Staff

The most important: Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi reported on our defensive actions on the front and our operations in the Kursk region. We are grateful to all soldiers and commanders for their resilience and decisive actions. Among other things, we… pic.twitter.com/wYEkLGJP5Y

— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) August 12, 2024

Zelenskyy said that the war was coming back to Russia after Moscow had taken it to other countries.” “Russia brought war to others, now it’s coming home. Ukraine has always wanted only peace, and we will certainly ensure peace,” he said.

According to the Institute for the Study of War, Ukraine’s operation in Kursk has “allowed Ukrainian forces to at least temporarily seize the battlefield initiative” in one area of the frontline, take the time and place of fighting, and contest Russia’s theater-wide initiative. 

Russia evacuates more than 100,000 people from the border region

Russia said it had evacuated more than 100,000 people from border areas on Monday as Ukraine pressed on with its surprise incursion.

The governor of Russia’s Kursk region told Putin that 121,000 people have left or been evacuated from the frontline zone. Governor Alexei Smirnov said in a video conference with governors of affected regions that “as of today 121,000 people have left and been evacuated,” while 59,000 more need to leave.

Earlier, Russia declared a state of emergency in the Kursk region following what President Vladimir Putin has described as a “large-scale provocation” by Ukrainian force

Putin vows to drive Ukraine out of Kursk

Russian President Vladimir Putin accused Ukraine of attempting to “sow discord” among the Russian public. He called the incursion an attempt to stop Moscow’s offensive in eastern Ukraine’s Donbas region and gain leverage in possible future peace talks. He asserted that Moscow would not participate in any potential peace talks with Kyiv. Ukraine has signaled that it is ready to negotiate an end to the war as Ukrainians are increasingly fatigued by the conflict.

Putin vowed an “adequate response” at a meeting with officials and hinted at consequences for the failure to anticipate the incursion. “An assessment of the ongoing events must certainly be made, and it will be,” Putin told his security cabinet and the governors of three Russian border regions. “But the main thing now is solving the tasks at hand [ . . . ] to push out and beat back the enemy from our territory and ensure the state border is well protected.”

Meanwhile, the Russian troops continued to attack Ukrainian positions along the front line in the Donbas region, even as Ukrainian forces led a swift =offensive into Russian territory across the border from the Kharkiv region.