Ukraine’s top commander says Kyiv’s forces have taken control of 1,000 square kilometers of Russian territory as they press their biggest cross-border incursion in two-and-a-half years of full-scale war.
Commander Oleksandr Siriskyi said Ukraine has continued to conduct an offensive operation in the Kursk region, seven days after it began.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russia had brought war to others and now it was coming back to Russia.
However, Russian leader Vladimir Putin described the offensive as a “major provocation” and ordered Russian forces to to kick the enemy out of the country’s territory.
A growing number of people have been evacuated from the western Russian region for their safety, with a further 59,000 told to leave.
The acting governor of Kursk region, Alexei Smirnov, said during a meeting with President Putin that 28 villages in the area had fallen to Ukrainian forces and that 12 civilians had been killed .
The offensive is said to have boosted morale on the Ukrainian side, but some analysts believe the strategy brings fresh dangers to Ukraine.