kyiv: Ukraine's top commander said on Thursday that kyiv had set up a military commanding office in the occupied part of Russia's Kursk region, where he said its forces were continuing to advance, even as Moscow's troops stepped up their offensives in eastern Ukraine.
The remarks by Colonel General Oleksandr Syrskyi were the strongest signal yet that kyiv's forces plan to dig in after launching a lightning cross-border assault on Russia last week that opened a new front in the two-and-a-half-year all-out war.
“We are making progress in the Kursk region. A military command has been created that must ensure order and also meet all the needs of the local population,” Syrskyi said in a written statement on his Telegram channel. The command will be headed by Major General Eduard Moskalyov, he said.
kyiv's offensive into Russian territory took Moscow by surprise, seizing the initiative from Kremlin forces, which had been making small but steady advances in eastern Ukraine throughout the year. About 18% of Ukraine's territory is occupied by Russia.
Syrskyi told President Volodymyr Zelenskiy in a video posted by the Ukrainian leader that the incursion had so far advanced 35 kilometers (22 miles) into the Kursk region, capturing 82 settlements and an area of 1,150 square kilometers (444 square miles).
Though far larger than the 480-square-kilometer estimate of territory given by the acting governor of Russia's Kursk region on Monday, the advances are the biggest attack on Russia since World War II and have upended perceptions of a fading Ukraine.
Zelenskiy, who spoke cryptically of the need to move toward “next steps” in public remarks on Wednesday, again hinted at other possible offensive actions on Russian territory.
“We must clearly ensure at the legislative level that our soldiers, who are participating, for example, in the Kursk operation and will participate in all our other actions on the territory of the aggressor state, will receive absolutely all payments and benefits designated for the front line,” he said in an address posted on Telegram.
Russia will strengthen its defenses
Russia said Ukrainian forces were still on the attack and it would strengthen its border defences, improve command and control and send additional forces.
“The enemy is pressing, trying to break through from all sides, to break through,” said Gen. Apti Alaudinov, commander of the Chechen Akhmat special forces fighting in Kursk. “But every day the enemy's forces are fading away.”
Russian Defence Minister Andrei Belousov said the General Staff had prepared a series of measures to defend Russia's border regions of Kursk, Bryansk and Belgorod, which cover an area the size of Portugal.
Russian officials have warned that if Western weapons are used on Russian soil, Moscow would consider it a serious escalation. Russian President Vladimir Putin has vowed to strike back with a “dignified response” to the incursion.
Syrskyi's remarks suggest that kyiv's pace of advance has slowed in the Kursk region. Ukraine, he said, has gained between 500 meters and 1.5 kilometers in the past 24 hours, compared with between 1 and 2 kilometers the day before.
No truce in the East
Ukraine said there were no signs of Russian military pressure easing on the eastern front within its borders and reported the heaviest fighting in weeks near the town of Pokrovsk, a major logistics hub.
The head of the military administration in Pokrovsk called on local residents to evacuate the area, saying Russian forces were approaching.
“The enemy has almost reached the town of Pokrovsk, about 10 kilometers from the outskirts of the city,” he said on Telegram.
Syrskyi told Zelenskiy in his briefing by video link that the situation in the east and south, where Russia has already captured swathes of the country, was “difficult but under control.”
“The main efforts are focused on preventing the enemy from advancing in the Toretsk and Pokrovsk directions, inflicting maximum losses on him and creating favourable conditions for further actions,” he said.
