Ukrainian forces continue to advance into Russia on the sixth day of their surprise incursion into the Kursk region

Soldiers of the Ukrainian army planted a Ukrainian flag in the village of Guevo, in the Russian Kursk region

The incursion of Ukraine in the Russian region of Kursk continued on Sunday by sixth consecutive dayin an offensive that is unprecedented in its use of kyiv military units on Russian soil and which has already advanced some 30 kilometres without Moscow being able to stop it.

In an apparent sign of how far some Ukrainian units have managed to advance, Moscow’s Defense Ministry said it had hit enemy units near the villages of Tolpino y Common Kolodezwhich are about 25 km and 30 km from the border between Russia and Ukraine.

Earlier, Russian authorities also acknowledged that kyiv troops entered the district of Belovskyadjacent to the neighboring Sudzhathe town where they entered Russia last Tuesday.

“Yesterday the Entry of a Ukrainian subversive group in the territory of the district of Belovskyour defenders managed to stabilize the situation,” wrote the acting governor of Kursk, Alexei Smirnovon his Telegram channel. ”It is important not to panic.“But if they want to leave the district voluntarily, they can do so,” Smirnov said, calling on local residents to contact local authorities or call a special hotline to inquire about evacuation possibilities.

According to official data, At least 76,000 people have fled towns near the border with Ukraine in the Kursk region since Tuesday.

At the same time, this Sunday the authorities of another border region, Belgorodalso reported the population flight from some towns bordering neighbouring Kursk due to fears of an intensification of Ukrainian attacks.

In parallel to the land incursion, Ukraine also bombed several Russian border regions with dronesincluding a night attack that Moscow said left 13 people injured in the city of KurskUkraine has not commented on Sunday’s drone strikes inside Russia.

Residents of an apartment building damaged by Ukrainian shelling leave the area in Kursk, Russia, Sunday, Aug. 11, 2024. (AP Photo)AP

However, they come at a time when Ukraine has in recent weeks increased the pace of similar drone attacks aimed primarily at military infrastructure and oil deposits.

Ukrainian soldiers seized a Gazprom site in Russia’s Kursk region

The Kursk offensive seems to have taken the Kremlin by surprise and allowed kyiv penetrate about 15 kilometers on Russian territory and take some 500 square kilometersaccording to analysts.

The political and military authorities in kyiv are still avoiding direct comments on the ongoing operation, but it is certain that the The achievements of the raid are becoming more and more evident. On Saturday, on social networks Ukraine The first video has appeared showing the presence of Ukrainian soldiers in Kursk.

“We wish you good health from the city of Suzha. “The city is under the control of the Ukrainian Armed Forces,” a soldier said in an image apparently recorded in front of a regional office of the Russian gas giant. Gazprom and holding a Ukrainian flag alongside three other men in uniform.

The soldier claims that ““Gazprom’s strategic objective” It is under the control of the 99th Mechanized Battalion of the 61st Brigade of the Ukrainian Army and the situation in the city is calm with no destruction.

According to the information released, the office is located in the east of Sudzha, about 2 kilometers from the city center. about 10 kilometers from the border with Ukraine. Local authorities have so far denied that the city is under Ukrainian control.

A Ukrainian tank fires in the border area with Ukraine in the Kursk region. (Russian Defence Ministry/Reuters)via REUTERS

Neither the command of the 61st Brigade nor other representatives of the army have commented on the video. Nor have they released details about the operation.

This Sunday, another video was released of soldiers removing a Russian flag and planting the Ukrainian in the village of Guevo.

Ukrainian President, Volodimir Zelenskyindirectly mentioned this operation for the first time in his usual Saturday night speech and said that kyiv sought to “displace the war” in Russia.

“I am grateful to all units of the defence forces for ensuring this. Ukraine is proving that it can restore justice and ensure the necessary pressure on the aggressor,” he said.

Zelensky had previously alluded to the operation, praising the military’s ability to “surprise” and thanking them for taking Russian soldiers prisoner for use in future negotiations, referring specifically to last week.

Ukrainian troops carry out an incursion into Russian territory

The exact objectives of the operation remain unclear and the Ukrainian military has adopted a policy of secrecypresumably to ensure its success. Military experts have said that its aim is probably to draw Russian reserves away from the intense fighting in the eastern Ukrainian region of Donetskwhile a presidential adviser suggested it could strengthen kyiv’s position in future negotiations with Russia.

In this regard, a senior Ukrainian security official said on Sunday that the offensive is aimed at “stretching” the Kremlin’s forces y “destabilize the situation in Russia”.

Ukrainian army video showing Russian troops surrendering in Kursk

“We are on the offensive. The goal is to stretch the enemy’s positions, inflict maximum losses, destabilize the situation in Russia – because they are unable to protect their own borders – and “transfer the war to Russian territory”he told the agency AFP the security officer said on condition of anonymity.

The official added that “Thousands” of Ukrainian soldiers are taking part in the operation“many more” than the thousand that the Russian army had reported on Wednesday

The surprise attack lifted the spirits of Ukrainian society and the army, exhausted by two and a half years of Russian invasion, the Ukrainian official told AFP.

“It was a very good operation” which “caught the Russians off guard” and “really lifted our spirits, the spirits of the Ukrainian army, the spirits of the state and of society,” he said. After months of retreat on the eastern front, “This operation proved that we can attack and advance”he stressed.

Russian troops deliver military equipment to the Kursk region, Russia. (EFE/EPA/RUSSIAN DEFENCE MINISTRY)EFE

The raid, however, has not yet weakened the Russian offensive in eastern Ukrainewhere Moscow has been gaining ground for several months, the senior security official insisted.

“In principle, the situation has not changed. Their pressure in the east continues, they have not withdrawn their troops from this area” although “the intensity of the Russian attacks in the east has decreased a little,” he said.

The Ukrainian representative also assured that kyiv strictly respected international humanitarian law in its incursion launched this week in Russia.

“It is very important that Ukraine does not violate any conventionswe strictly respect humanitarian law: We do not execute prisoners, we do not rape women, we do not loot”he explained.

“Bucha, Irpin, all this does not take place and will not take place.“, he said, referring to the atrocities attributed to Russian troops in these Ukrainian cities in early 2022, shortly after the invasion launched on February 24.