Ukraine kept pounding the Russian border region of Kursk with missiles and drones on Wednesday, as Kyiv said it had made further territorial gains in an incursion that US president Joe Biden called a “real dilemma” for the Kremlin’s leader.
Four Ukraine-launched missiles were destroyed over Kursk and the whole region was under air raid alerts on and off most of the night, its regional acting governor said early Wednesday.
Kyiv said on Tuesday it had taken control of 74 settlements in Kursk, a week after thousands of Ukrainian soldiers launched a startling attack through the Russian border.
Ukraine’s account has jarred with Russia’s assertions that Kyiv’s troops had been halted and attacks had been repelled at villages about 26 to 28km (16 to 17 miles) from the border.
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Reuters was not able to independently verify the battlefield situation.
Russian president Vladimir Putin said the attack was aimed at improving Kyiv’s negotiating position ahead of possible talks and slowing Russia’s frontline advance.
[ The Irish Times view on the Kursk offensive: Ukraine changes the narrativeOpens in new window ]
The incursion has suddenly shifted the dynamics of the war, which Moscow started with its full-scale invasion on Ukraine in 2022, giving president Volodymyr Zelenskiy the first significant gains after months of Moscow’s steady territorial advances into Ukraine.
Mr Biden, in his first substantive comments, said Washington is in constant contact with Kyiv about the operation, although the White House said earlier it was not engaged in any aspect of planning or preparation.
“It’s creating a real dilemma for Putin,” Mr Biden said.
A Russian military blogger close to the defence ministry who goes by the name “Rybar” said on the Telegram messaging app that Ukrainian forces were attacking in several areas at once. Russian troops were “pinning down” Kyiv soldiers, striking their armoury, while reinforcements were arriving.
Kursk's acting governor, Alexei Smirnov, said on Telegram that Russian soldiers were “fighting shoulder to shoulder” for victory in what the Kremlin calls a “special military operation” against Ukraine.
It was not clear which side was in control of the Russian town of Sudzha, through which Russia delivers gas from western Siberia through Ukraine and on to Slovakia and other European Union countries. Gazprom said Tuesday it was still pumping gas to Ukraine through Sudzha.
While some US officials said Washington is still trying to figure out exactly what Kyiv is doing, others said that the goal appears to be to force Russia to pull troops out of Ukraine to defend Russian territory.
Mr Zelenskiy said that Kyiv’s forces had rounded up Russian prisoners of war who could be swapped for captured Ukrainian fighters, touting what he described as an expanding “exchange fund”.
[ Russia strikes back at Ukrainian forces in Kursk region using missiles and dronesOpens in new window ]
Shown speaking via video link, the Ukrainian leader asked his top commander, Oleksandr Syrskyi, to develop the next “key steps” in the operation. Syrskyi replied: “Everything is being executed according to the plan.”
At the United Nations, Russia called out Kyiv's allies for not condemning the incursion.
On Wednesday, the governor of another Russian border region, Belgorod, south of Kursk, declared a state of emergency, citing continued attacks by Ukrainian forces. He said he will be asking Moscow to declare a federal emergency situation.
“The situation in the Belgorod region continues to be extremely difficult and tense,” the governor, Vyacheslav Gladkov, said in a video posted on the Telegram messaging app. – Reuters
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