President Vladimir Putin ordered his army on Monday, August 12 to "dislodge" Ukrainian troops who have entered Russian territory as authorities said over 120,000 people had been evacuated away from the fighting.
Kyiv launched a surprise offensive into Russia's western Kursk region last Tuesday, capturing over two dozen settlements in the most significant cross-border attack on Russian soil since World War II.
Ukraine's military chief Oleksandr Syrskyi told President Volodymyr Zelensky in a video posted Monday that his troops now control about 1,000 square kilometers of Russian territory and are continuing "offensive operations."
"One of the obvious goals of the enemy is to sow discord, strife, intimidate people, destroy the unity and cohesion of Russian society," Putin told a televised meeting with government officials. "The main task is, of course, for the Defense Ministry to dislodge the enemy from our territories," he said.
Some 121,000 people have fled the Kursk region since the start of the fighting, which has killed at least 12 civilians and injured 121 more, regional governor Alexei Smirnov told the meeting with Putin. Authorities in Kursk announced on Monday they were widening their evacuation area to include Belovsky district, home to some 14,000 residents. The neighboring Belgorod region also said it was evacuating its border district of c.
Ukraine has pierced into the region by at least 12 kilometers and has captured 28 towns and villages, with the new front 40 kilometers long, Syrskyi said. But he asserted that "as of now, about 1,000 square kilometers of Russian territory are under control," suggesting the area captured is more than twice as large. He said that fighting was ongoing along almost the whole front and "the situation is under our control."
Zelensky said that he had instructed officials to "prepare a humanitarian plan for the area of the operation."
Putin said Russia would respond by showing "unanimous support for all those in distress" and claimed there had been an increase in men signing up to fight. "The enemy will receive a worthy riposte," he said.
The assault appeared to catch the Kremlin off guard. Russia's army rushed in reserve troops, tanks, aviation, artillery and drones in a bid to quash it. But it conceded on Sunday that Ukraine had penetrated up to 30 kilometers into Russian territory in places. It said some forces were near the villages of Tolpino and Obshchy Kolodez, around 25 kilometers and 30 kilometers from the Russia-Ukraine border.
Russia's Defense Ministry said on Monday that its air defense systems had destroyed 18 Ukrainian drones – including 11 over the Kursk region. Smirnov said Monday that more than 46,000 residents in the Kursk region have applied for financial assistance. Russia's rail operator has meanwhile organized emergency trains from Kursk to Moscow, around 450 kilometers away, for those fleeing.
Across the border in Ukraine's Sumy region, Agence France-Presse (AFP) journalists on Sunday saw dozens of armored vehicles daubed with a white triangle – the insignia apparently being used to identify Ukrainian military hardware deployed in the attack.
Russia's Defense Ministry said Monday that troops had "accelerated the speed of advance" in the eastern Donetsk region and taken the hamlet of Lysychne in their push toward the city of Pokrovsk.