Russia struggles to contain Ukraine push

MOSCOW: President Vladimir Putin ordered his army on Monday 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 Syrsky told President Volodymyr Zelensky in a video posted on Monday that his troops now control about 1,000 square kilometres 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 defence 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 neighbouring Belgorod region also said it was evacuating its border district of Krasnoyaruzhsky.
Ukraine has pierced into the region by at least 12 kilometres and has captured 28 towns and villages, with the new front 40 kilometres long, Smirnov said.
But Syrsky said that “as of now, about 1,000 square kilometres of Russian territory are under control,” suggesting the area captured is more than twice as large.
Published in Dawn, August 13th, 2024