Zelensky delivers 'left hook' to 'lumbering Russian bear'

Putin's forces struggle to deal with assault on home soil

- BEL TREW ANDY GREGORY

Ukraine has launched one of its most successful assaults on Russia yet with a surprise cross-border attack which has left Vladimir Putin humiliated.

Nearly 1,000 troops, backed by artillery fire and tanks, have pushed miles into Russian territory, forcing residents to flee and the Russian president to call up reservists to help his forces who were caught off guard. Ukraine has not only held onto gains made in recent days, but systematically advanced through villages and towns in the Kursk region in the west of Russia.

Military experts described the assault as the most significant on Russian soil since the Second World War, and one which has hugely embarrassed Putin. Ukraine is delighted by the success, and keen to show its allies in Nato that their support has been worthwhile, having recently been supplied with more weaponry and jets to help the wider war effort.

“Putin is humiliated; we’ve embarrassed Russia once again,” a Ukrainian defence source told The Independent. “We have shown to the Russian people that their tsar cannot protect them. For a year there’s been nothing positive to report from the front lines. This offensive really puts some new energy into the whole war machine.”

Verified footage released yesterday showed a burnt-out convoy of 15 Russian military trucks spaced out along a highway in the Kursk region, some containing the bodies of dead soldiers.