Vladimir Putin abruptly interrupted an acting regional governor who said Ukraine’s military had taken control of 28 towns and villages in Russia’s Kursk border region, prompting a sixth of its population to flee.
Alexey Smirnov said Ukrainian forces had penetrated at least 12km (7.5 miles) into the region and controlled a border area 40km wide before Putin cut him off at a televised meeting with defence officials on Monday, saying this was a matter for the military to assess.
“You can tell us about the socio-economic situation and about helping people,” Putin told Smirnov, who went on to list assistance provided to more than 120,000 residents he said had left their homes in the region, with about 60,000 more waiting to be evacuated.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky acknowledged the scale of the intervention in a video report from his war cabinet posted on Telegram on Monday. Army Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi told the president “as of now nearly 1,000 square kilometres of Russian Federation territory are under our control” and that offensive operations are continuing in the Kursk region.
Putin said the Russian defence ministry’s main task was to “drive out the enemy from our territories and, together with the Border Service, ensure reliable protection of the state border.”
He admitted fighting could spread further in Russia, telling the governor of neighbouring Bryansk region that if things were calm there now “it doesn’t mean the situation will remain the same tomorrow.”
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China rejects Nato claim of being ‘decisive enabler’ of Russia in Ukraine war
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Ukraine would continue attacks to try to destabilise the political situation in the country, Putin said. The government in Kyiv was attempting to stop Russia’s offensive in eastern Ukraine and was “striving to improve its negotiating positions in the future,” he said.
Russia has sent reinforcements to try to quell Ukraine’s surprise cross-border attack, the first time since World War II that a foreign military has taken control of part of its territory. It’s the biggest assault within Russia since Putin ordered the February 2022 invasion of Ukraine that was supposed to end within days and is now well into its third year.
“The Russians have been severely embarrassed,” said Matthew Savill, military sciences director at the Royal United Services Institute in London. Still, “sustaining a force of any size in Russia, and defending against counter-attacks, will be hard, given the limited reserves available” to Ukraine.