Ukraine said on Thursday, August 15, that its troops They carried out new attacks and advances in Russia after taking control of more than 1,000 square kilometers, while his opponent claimed to have recovered a village taken by forces under the command of the kyiv government and that he would send reinforcements to the area.
In the context of the largest attack of a army against Russian soil from the World War IIhe president of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky said his forces had taken Sudzha, a town with 5,500 inhabitants, the largest since the start of the surprise incursion, 8 kilometres from the border.
“Since the start of operations in the Kursk region, our troops have advanced 35 kilometres inland” and captured “82 settlements” in an area of 1,150 square kilometres, he added, during a meeting with the head of the Ukrainian army, Oleksandr Sirski.
The large-scale attack broke a series of months-long setbacks by the troops of the former Soviet republic, which had been facing a Russian invasion for two and a half years. General Sirski said his troops had established a military administration in the Kursk region “to maintain law and order and meet the priority needs of the population in the territories under its control.”
DISPLACED PEOPLE INCREASE AMID UKRAINE’S RUSSIAN CONTROL
In Kurk, journalists from AFP Nearly 500 evacuees from border areas were seen waiting in line outside a Russian Red Cross food and clothing distribution. Moscow says more than 120,000 people have been displaced by the attack and fighting.
The clashes have left at least 12 civilians dead and 121 wounded, according to Russian authorities, who have not updated the toll since Monday. Moscow has sent reinforcements to the area and the Belgorod region and announced the recapture of a village in Kursk.
Russian forces have “recaptured the village of Krupets” and are “continuing to stop” Ukrainian attacks in the Kursk region, the military said in a statement.
The army has also prepared “concrete actions” to defend the Belgorod region, Russian Defence Minister Andrei Belusov said at a meeting with officers including the region’s governor, Vyacheslav Gladkov.
A “NECESSARY” OFFENSIVE
Both the Kursk and Belgorod regions had seen minor incursions since Russian President Vladimir Putin launched the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. However, Ukraine had never launched an attack of this scale.
kyiv argues that the offensive is necessary for its “self-defence” and experts suggest it could be an attempt to relieve pressure on the eastern front. Ukrainian troops, however, are still experiencing difficulties in the eastern Donbas region, which Moscow is seeking to conquer.
At least five people have been killed in Russian airstrikes in eastern and southern Ukraine, local authorities said Thursday. Two people were killed in the Kharkiv region in the northeast and one in Donetsk in the east. Two others were killed in the Kherson region in the south. “Most of the Russian attacks are taking place in eastern Donbas,” Zelensky said. N
(With information from AFP)
