'Ukrainian forces will stay for some time in Russia'

Kyiv’s military wants to prolong the humiliation of Vladimir Putin over the surprise Kursk assault for as long as possible

- ASKOLD KRUSHELNYCKY

Ukraine’s surprise attack on Russian soil. “This operation has been long in the planning and has serious aims and Ukrainian forces will stay for some time in Russia.”

Backing up the colonel’s assessment, an official who has worked for Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky’s administration as an adviser and in a variety of other important roles, says the Kursk assault will not be a brief incursion but is likely to broaden its scope with the intention of holding onto captured territory. He said that thousands more troops – potentially several brigades – are standing by, “including some of the best, most experienced troops and brigades” to fight.

Moscow’s forces are still scrambling to respond to the crossborder assault by Kyiv’s troops after almost a week of fierce fighting in the Kursk region, which borders northeast Ukraine. Acting Kursk governor Alexei Smirnov reported to Russian president Vladimir Putin that Ukrainian forces had pushed at least 7.5 miles (12km) over the border across a 24-mile front and currently control 28 Russian settlements. Ukraine’s army chief, Oleksandr Syrskyi, said around 390 sq m (1,000 sq km) in the Kursk region are under the control of his country’s troops.

Mr Smirnov said that 121,000 people have been evacuated or left the areas affected by fighting on their own. The total planned number of evacuations is 180,000. He added that 12 civilians had been killed and 121 others, including 10 children, had been wounded in the operation. Ukrainian forces swiftly rolled into the town of Sudzha, about six miles over the border, after launching the attack. They reportedly still hold the western part of the town, which is the site of an important natural gas transit station conveying Russian gas to Western Europe.