Moscow, 13 August 2024 (TDI): Ukraine’s top commander has said Kyiv’s troops control 1,000 sq km of Russian territory as they press their biggest cross-border incursion in two-and-a-half years of full-scale war.
Commander Oleksandr Syrskyi said Kyiv continued to conduct an offensive operation in the Kursk region seven days after it started.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky said Moscow had brought war to others and now it was coming back to Russia.
But Russian leader Vladimir Putin described the offensive as a “major provocation” and ordered Russian troops to “to kick the enemy out of our territory”.
An increasing number of residents have been evacuated from the western region of Russia for their safety, with a further 59,000 instructed to move.
The local governor said about twenty-eight villages in the area had been seized by Ukrainian troops, that twelve civilians had been killed and “the situation remains difficult”.
Ukrainian forces launched their surprise attack last Tuesday, advancing up to eighteen miles (30km) into Russia.
The operation is said to have boosted morale on the Ukrainian side, but observers say it brings fresh dangers to Ukraine.
The region’s governor said 121,000 people had been moved out from their homes. He told Putin that nearly 2,000 Russian citizens remained in areas occupied by Ukrainian troop in the area.
The governor warned people to take shelter from missiles in rooms with solid walls and without windows.
Also Read More: Russia Widens Evacuations to Second Region After Ukraine Offensive
In Belgorod, the region next to Kursk, nearly 11,000 people were also asked to leave, as Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov told people from the Krasnaya Yaruga district they were being vacuated due to “enemy activity on the border”.
He issued a similar missile warning, and asked people to shelter in their basements.
In his nightly address, Ukraine’s president acknowledged the offensive, stating Moscow must be forced to make peace if Putin wants to fight so badly.
Russia brought war to others, now it is coming home. Ukraine has always wanted only peace, and we will certainly ensure peace, he added.
