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Russia admitted that the Ukrainian troops had pierced deep into the Kursk border region in an offensive that a top official in Ukraine said aimed to “destabilise” Russia and “stretch” its armed forces.
Kyiv has deployed thousands of troops to the surprise operation, a Ukrainian security official told AFP, seizing the battlefield initiative after months of slow Russian advances across the east.
“We are on the offensive. The aim is to stretch the positions of the enemy, to inflict maximum losses and to destabilise the situation in Russia as they are unable to protect their own border,” the security official said on condition of anonymity.
The shock assault, now in its sixth day, appeared to catch the Kremlin off guard, with Moscow’s army rushing in reserve troops, tanks, aviation, artillery and drones in a bid to quash it.
But the army on Sunday appeared to concede that Ukraine had been able to penetrate its territory by up to 30 kilometres (20 miles) in places.
In a daily briefing on the situation in the western Kursk region, the defence ministry said it had “foiled attempts” by Ukraine’s forces to “break through deep into Russian territory” using armoured vehicles.
But it said some of those forces were located near the villages of Tolpino and Obshchy Kolodez, which are around 25 km and 30 km from the Russia-Ukraine border.
The Ukrainian official also said Russia’s claims that Kyiv had deployed 1,000 troops were a serious underestimation.
“It is a lot more… Thousands,” he said.
After days of official silence, President Volodymyr Zelensky acknowledged the offensive saying Kyiv was “pushing the war into the aggressor’s territory”.
Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022 and has waged an unrelenting campaign, occupying swathes of the east and south and subjecting Ukrainian cities to daily missile and drone attacks.
After re-capturing large areas in 2022, Kyiv has largely been on the back foot, increasingly struggling with manpower and arms supplies.
The assault on the Kursk region has been the largest and most successful cross-border offensive by Kyiv so far — and the most significant attack by a foreign army on Russian territory since World War II.
Russia said that more than 76,000 civilians had been evacuated from border areas, with more leaving.
