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Ukrainian troops advanced further into Russia’s Kursk region on Wednesday (Aug 14), an advance Kiev said would provide a strategic buffer zone to protect its border regions from Russian attack.
Last week, Kiev caught Moscow off guard by advancing into Russian territory. Russian forces, which began a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, have been advancing steadily throughout the year.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he met with senior officials to discuss the humanitarian situation and “if necessary” set up an office of the military commander in the occupied territory, which Kiev says covers more than 1,000 square kilometers.
“We continue to advance towards Kursk, and since today we have advanced one to two kilometers in various regions,” Zelensky wrote in the telegram.
Later, in his evening speech, Zelensky mentioned that the growing number of Russian prisoners of war captured in Kursk could be used to exchange for Ukrainian fighters.
“Today our progress in Kursk is going well – we are achieving our strategic goals. Our country’s ‘exchange fund’ has also been significantly replenished.”
Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said the “buffer zone” was created to “protect our border communities from daily attacks by the enemy.”
Russia has been launching attacks on Ukraine from neighboring border regions such as Kursk.
Ukraine has complained that Western countries are unwilling to fire weapons into the Russian heartland rather than into Russian forces occupying Ukraine, limiting its ability to defend against such attacks. Zelenskiy again urged Western allies to allow long-range missile strikes on Russia.
Russia says it shot down Ukrainian drone
Russian President Vladimir Putin has vowed to expel Ukrainian troops. He says their goal is to put Kiev in a stronger position in possible future ceasefire talks with Western support. But more than a week of heavy fighting has so far failed to dislodge them.
“The situation remains difficult,” said Yuri Podlyaka, an influential Ukrainian-born pro-Russian military blogger.
Ukraine’s General Staff said Kiev attacked four Russian military airfields in the Voronezh, Kursk and Nizhny Novgorod regions overnight, targeting fuel depots and aerial weapons. Zelensky called the attack “timely” and “precise.”
An unnamed Ukrainian security source told Reuters the long-range drone strike was aimed at weakening Russia’s ability to attack Ukraine with glide bombs. The Ukrainian military said it destroyed a Russian Su-34 fighter jet.
Moscow said it shot down 117 Ukrainian drones and four missiles. The Russian Defense Ministry posted a video on Telegram that it said showed Sukhoi Su-34 bombers attacking Ukrainian positions in the Kursk region.
Later, Russia’s Defense Ministry said its troops had repelled a series of Ukrainian attacks in Kursk, including in Russkoye Porechnoye, 18 kilometers from the border. Some pro-Russian war bloggers said the front line had stabilized, while state television said Moscow’s troops were turning the tide.
Russia’s National Guard said it was stepping up security at the Kursk nuclear power plant, just 35 kilometres from the war zone.
In the Russian border town of Bergorod, Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov declared a state of emergency.
Russia said it had evacuated about 200,000 people from the border region. The acting governor of Kursk region said on Telegram late Wednesday that residents of the border settlement of Glushkovo had been ordered to evacuate.
Ukraine plans to build evacuation corridor for civilians
Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Irina Velechuk said Kiev would open humanitarian corridors to evacuate civilians to Russia and Ukraine.
Ukrainian officials said Kiev would also arrange access for international humanitarian organizations, possibly including the International Committee of the Red Cross and the United Nations.
The unprecedented incursion carries significant risks for Russia, Ukraine and the West, which is eager to avoid a direct conflict between Russia and the U.S.-led NATO military alliance that has helped arm Ukraine.
President Joe Biden said U.S. officials were in close contact with Kiev about the intrusion, but the White House said Washington was not notified in advance and had no involvement.
Russian officials said Ukraine’s Western backers were certainly aware of the attack. “Of course they were involved,” MP Maria Butina told Reuters.
The offensive is likely to leave Ukrainian forces more exposed in other parts of the front line, where Russia has been slowly expanding the 18 percent of Ukraine it currently controls.
The heaviest fighting remains in the Donetsk region, where Zelensky said his forces would receive more weapons than planned in the next Western aid package.
The Russian town of Sudja, a transit hub for Russian natural gas moving through Ukraine to Europe, is now fully under Ukrainian control, Ukraine’s top commander, General Oleksandr Syrskyi, said. Gas was still flowing on Wednesday.
“Sudja is under Ukrainian control. However, Ukraine has no intention of occupying the land of others,” Kiev’s Foreign Ministry said on X.
The Russian ruble fell further against the dollar on Wednesday and has lost more than 8% since the invasion.
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