Another advance of Ukrainian forces

kyiv, Ukraine (AP) — Ukrainian President Voldimir Zelensky visited the northeastern Sumy region on Monday, his first visit to the border area since Kiev troops invaded Russian territory more than two weeks ago.

After a meeting with the Ukrainian army commander, Zelensky said his forces had seized another settlement in Russia’s Kursk province and captured more prisoners of war that he hopes to exchange for captured Ukrainians.

He referred to them as Ukraine’s “swap fund.”

“Another settlement in the Kursk region is now under Ukrainian control and we have replenished the exchange fund,” Zelensky wrote on social media X after hearing the report from military commander Colonel General Oleksandr Sirski.

But the advances coincide with the loss of ground in Donetsk, a province in eastern Ukraine.

The Russian Defense Ministry announced yesterday that its army had captured the town of Mezhove.

The Ukrainian incursion into the neighbouring country is the first attack on Russia since World War II, and comes as both sides employ drones to strike far behind enemy lines.

A Ukrainian drone strike caused a fire at a military facility in southern Russia yesterday, as kyiv continues its offensive on Kursk and attacks key infrastructure such as bridges.

A “defense ministry facility” was on fire after being attacked by drones in the Marinovka area, Volgograd Governor Andrei Bocharov said on Telegram.

The president did not offer further details of the damage.

Ukraine attacked Russia with 28 drones overnight, the Kremlin’s Defense Ministry said. Thirteen of them were shot down over Volgograd, seven in the Rostov region, four in Belgorod, two in Voronezh province and one each in Bryansk and Kursk, it added.

At a glance

Air base

Russian Telegram channels reported that the drones attempted to hit a military airbase near Marinovka, in the town of Oktiabrsky.

Burst

Videos on Russian social media channels showed an explosion allegedly near the facility.

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