Abhay Singh
Moscow was taken aback by Kyiv’s recent incursion into Russian territory, which has, for the time being at least, altered the tone of a conflict in which Russian soldiers, who started a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, had been making consistent progress toward victory all year.
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskiy met with high-ranking authorities to talk about the humanitarian situation and the potential for military rule over an occupied region that stretches over 1,000 square kilometers, according to Ukraine.
Zelenskiy wrote “We continue to advance further in the Kursk region, from one to two km in various areas since the start of the day. And more than 100 Russian prisoners of war in the same period.”
The establishment of a “buffer zone,” according to Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko, was “designed to protect our border communities from daily enemy attacks.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin has vowed to push out the Ukrainian troops
Russia is launching strikes from its border territories, including the Kursk region, causing Ukraine to struggle to defend itself against these attacks, as it must comply with Western countries’ restrictions on using weapons against Russia’s hinterland.
That goal will be aided by carving out a portion of the Kursk region, which Russia claims makes up less than half of the area that Ukraine claims.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has pledged to drive out Ukrainian forces, claiming that they are attempting, with Western support, to give Kyiv a better hand in potential future ceasefire talks. However, despite almost a week of furious warfare, they have yet to be defeated.
Yuri Podolyaka, a Ukrainian-born pro-Russian military blogger, argues that the situation remains challenging, with the enemy gradually increasing its presence in the Kursk region.
Moscow reported that 117 Ukrainian drones and missiles were downed over Russia, primarily in the Kursk, Voronezh, Belgorod, and Nizhny Novgorod regions. Sukhoi Su-34 bombers were also reported to strike Ukrainian positions in the Kursk region. Russian forces later repelled a series of Ukrainian attacks in the Kursk region, including at Russkoye Porechnoye.
Security at the Kursk nuclear plant was heightened
Some Ukrainian drones targeted four Russian military airfields in an attempt to impair Russia’s ability to attack Ukraine with glide bombs, a Ukrainian security source told Reuters on condition of anonymity. Ukraine’s military also stated that it had destroyed a Russian Su-34.
Russia’s National Guard is enhancing security at the Kursk nuclear power plant, located 35 km from the conflict, while Belgorod governor Vyacheslav Gladkov has declared a state of emergency, and around 200,000 people have been evacuated from the border zone.
Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk announced Kyiv would open humanitarian corridors for civilian evacuation in both Russia and Ukraine. She also arranged access for international humanitarian organizations, including the International Committee of the Red Cross and the United Nations.
The Russian rouble fell against the dollar on Wednesday, marking a loss of more than 8% since the start of the incursion.
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