Ukraine announced today that its forces have advanced further in Russia's Kursk region in the largest foreign incursion into Russia since World War II, which presents a "dilemma" for the country's president, Vladimir Putin, according to US President Joseph Biden, reports Reuters.
Thousands of Ukrainian troops crossed the Russian border in the early hours of August 6 into the western part of the Kursk region, in what Putin called a major provocation aimed at putting Ukraine in a better position in possible future ceasefire talks.
Ukraine "cut off" a part of the Russian border region of Kursk, although Putin said that the Russian army would push out the Ukrainian troops, in more than a week of intense fighting, they have so far failed to do so.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said that the forces of Kiev continue to conquer the area in the Kursk region and that they have crossed another one to two kilometers today.
"We continue to advance in the Kursk region," Zelensky wrote in a statement for Telegram, "from one to two kilometers in different areas since the beginning of the day." And more than 100 Russian prisoners of war in the same period," he said.
The Russian Defense Ministry said 117 Ukrainian drones were shot down on its territory overnight, mostly in the Kursk, Voronezh, Belgorod and Nizhny Novgorod regions.
Missiles were also said to have been shot down and Sukhoi Su-34 bombers were targeting Ukrainian positions in the Kursk region.
The ministry later said Russian forces had repelled a series of Ukrainian attacks inside the Kursk region, including Russia's Porečnoe 18 kilometers from the border, and pro-Russian war bloggers said the front was stabilized.
The Ukrainian drone strike included strikes on four Russian military airfields in an attempt to undermine Russia's ability to attack Ukraine so-called. glide bombs, a Ukrainian security source told Reuters on condition of anonymity.
The Russian National Guard said it was beefing up security at the Kursk nuclear power plant, which is only 35 kilometers from the fighting.
Ukraine's attack on Russian territory has dramatically changed the narrative of the nearly two-and-a-half-year-old war. Russia has advanced in eastern Ukraine since Kiev's failed counteroffensive in 2023.
But Ukraine's unprecedented incursion also carries major risks for Russia, Ukraine and the West, which wants to avoid a direct confrontation between Russia and the US-led NATO military alliance that has helped arm Kiev against Moscow.
Biden said US officials were in constant contact with Ukraine over the intrusion, which he said had "created a real dilemma" for Putin.
The White House said Ukraine did not give advance notice of its incursion and that the US was not involved. Russian officials have suggested that Western backers of Ukraine must have known about the attack.
"Of course they are involved," Russian MP Maria Butina told Reuters.
"It looks even worse when they say they don't know anything and shift all responsibility to Ukraine," she adds.
Russia defends itself
Russian state television announced that Russian forces were turning the tide of the conflict in Kursk, and showed footage of successful attacks on Ukrainian positions and gave extensive reports on the evacuation of Russian civilians from the border zone.
Ukraine's Supreme Commander Oleksandr Sirsky said that the Russian city of Suja, a transshipment hub for Russian natural gas flowing to Europe via Ukraine, is fully under Ukrainian control.
Bringing the war to Russia, Ukraine forced nearly 200.000 Russians to evacuate border areas near where the Red Army defeated Nazi forces in one of the largest tank battles ever in World War II in 1943.
Putin said on Monday that Ukraine "with the help of its Western masters" aims to improve Kiev's negotiating position ahead of possible peace talks.
But he questioned what negotiations might be like with an enemy he accused of indiscriminately shooting at Russian civilians and nuclear facilities.
Russian officials say Ukraine is trying to show its Western backers that it can still mount major military operations as pressure mounts on both Kiev and Moscow to agree to talk about ending the conflict, Europe's biggest since World War II.
Zelensky said the incursion was aimed at putting pressure on Russian forces and "restoring justice" after the Russian invasion.
The offensive carries a risk for Kiev: Ukraine could leave other parts of the home front exposed by devoting forces to fighting on Russian sovereign territory.
Russia controls about 18 percent of Ukrainian territory and has been gradually making progress lately.
Russian military bloggers said they expected Ukraine to make at least one more major move in the coming days. In the Russian border region of Belgorod, Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov declared a state of emergency throughout the region.
"The situation is still difficult," Yuriy Podoljaka, an influential Ukrainian-born pro-Russian military blogger, said of the situation in Kursk.
"The enemy still has the initiative, so, albeit slowly, it is increasing its presence in the Kursk region," said Podoljak.
Bonus video:
