'It feels great': Kyiv's troops on life behind enemy lines

In the Russian town of Sudzha, Ukrainian forces are braced for a counterattack. Askold Krushelnycky reports from Kursk

-  Askold Krushelnycky

As the Ukrainian armoured vehicle rumbled across the border into Russia's Kursk region, one of the crew turned around and grinned broadly. Another officer said: "I've crossed the border quite a few times since our operation in Russia started, and it feels great each time. Perhaps we should have done this a long time ago."

The Independent accompanied the Ukrainian military over some of the hundreds of square miles of territory Kyiv has claimed during its surprise cross-border assault, which is now three weeks old. Every piece of land taken is another embarrassment for Vladimir Putin.

Our armoured personnel carrier (APC) crossed along the main road from the city of Sumy, capital of the eponymous Ukrainian region adjoining Kursk. It swayed and jolted as we careered along roads cratered by Russian artillery, rockets and glide bombs trying to hit the hundreds of Ukrainian military vehicles, moving in both directions.

The traffic included tanks, APCs, compact lightly armoured vehicles like Humvees, supply trucks, fuel tankers, pick-ups and SUVs painted olive green – many still bearing the British number plates they arrived with when donated by UK supporters. Some of the heavier vehicles, such as British Challenger tanks, American Stryker and Bradley armoured fighting vehicles, German Leopard tanks and Marder APCs, were being hauled into Russia on huge transporters.

The first buildings on the Russian side, previously used by passport and customs officials, had been turned into barracks for border guards and ill-trained conscripts who mostly fled or surrendered when the main Ukrainian forces launched their incursion on 6 August. Their flimsy walls of metal sheeting and tin roofing had been peeled back by shell blasts and peppered with machine gun bullet holes as Ukrainian forces quickly overran them.