Ukrainian forces advancing in southern Russia, Zelensky says, as second border region declares emergency

Ukraine says its forces are advancing further in Russia’s Kursk region, a week after the start of its cross-border incursion that has seen Kyiv’s forces claim to have captured enemy soldiers and destroy a Russian fighter jet.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Wednesday his forces had advanced in Russia’s southern Kursk region by 1 to 2 kilometers since the beginning of the day. Kyiv has already claimed to have control over some 1,000 square kilometers (386 square miles) of Russian territory since the start of its surprise assault.

“We are advancing in the Kursk region, 1 to 2 kilometers in various areas since the beginning of the day,” Zelensky said in a video call with Ukrainian military chief Oleksandr Syrskyi on Wednesday.

Zelensky also said 100 Russian servicemen had been captured, adding that this will “accelerate the return of our guys and girls.”

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Earlier, video posted by AFP at the Ukrainian border crossing between the Sumy region and Russia’s Kursk region, showed a Ukrainian truck carrying blindfolded men in Russian military uniform traveling away from the Russian border.

A Ukrainian minister said the aim of the operation in Kursk was to create a “security zone” on Russian soil.

Iryna Vereshchuk, the Ukrainian minister for reintegration of temporarily occupied territories, said that the operation was designed to protect the border regions of Ukraine - primarily the border of the Sumy region, which has seen persistent Russian artillery and missile fire throughout the war.

Russia has pulled reserves from key battleground areas in Ukraine and Russian-occupied Crimea in an effort to hold back Kyiv’s advances, a Ukrainian military commander told CNN Wednesday.

Dymtro Kholod, commander of the “Nightingale” battalion, told a CNN team on the ground in Sumy that the military had “information” suggesting Russian soldiers were being pulled from Zaporizhzhia, Crimea and Kharkiv to halt Kyiv’s forces.

The incursion – which poses a major embarrassment for the Kremlin – has prompted an angered Russia to take peace negotiations off the table for the foreseeable future.

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The Russian Foreign Ministry’s special envoy, Rodion Miroshnik, said at a briefing on Wednesday that Moscow will be “at minimum” putting the talks with Ukraine on a “long pause.” Peace negotiations between the warring nations have proven unsuccessful since the start of the war in February 2022.

Meanwhile, the Russian border region of Belgorod declared an emergency on Wednesday after new attacks by Ukrainian forces.

“The situation in the Belgorod region continues to be extremely difficult and tense,” Belgorod Gov. Vyacheslav Gladkov said in a video message posted on his Telegram account on Wednesday.