Ukraine pounds Russia with drones, Zelenksy says troops advancing deeper into Kursk region
- Kyiv’s assault on Russia has dramatically changed the narrative of the war. Russia had been advancing since Ukraine’s failed 2023 counteroffensive
Ukraine said on Wednesday its forces had advanced further into Russia’s Kursk region in the biggest foreign incursion into Russia since World War II, posing a dilemma for President Vladimir Putin according to US President Joe Biden.
Thousands of Ukrainian troops rammed through the Russian border in the early hours of August 6 into Russia’s western Kursk region in what Putin called a major provocation aimed at gaining a stronger hand in possible future ceasefire talks.
Ukraine has carved out a slice of the Russian border region of Kursk and though Putin said the Russian army would push out the Ukrainian troops, more than a week of intense battles have so far failed to oust them.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Kyiv’s forces were continuing to gain ground in the Kursk region, and that they had taken another one to two kilometres on Wednesday.
“We continue to advance further in the Kursk region,” Zelensky wrote in a statement on Telegram, “from one to two kilometres in various areas since the start of the day. And more than 100 Russian prisoners of war in the same period.”
Russia’s defence ministry said 117 Ukrainian drones had been shot down within its territory overnight, mostly in the Kursk, Voronezh, Belgorod and Nizhny Novgorod regions. It said missiles had also been downed, and showed Sukhoi Su-34 bombers striking Ukrainian positions in the Kursk region.