Ukraine says its forces are continuing their advance into Russian territory, moving forward in several directions.
Russia’s western border region of Kursk came under a surprise attack last week, leading Russian authorities to declare a state of emergency in the area.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said troops had advanced 1-2 km further into Kursk since Wednesday morning, and had also captured 100 Russian soldiers. But Russia claims it has stopped any further advances.
Now in its second week, this is Ukraine’s deepest incursion into Russia since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion in 2022.
The amount of Russian territory seized is uncertain, with both countries making conflicting statements.
A commander of the Chechen Akhmat special forces unit, Maj-Gen Apti Alaudinov told viewers on Russian state-controlled TV, Channel One, that Russian forces had almost “completely blocked” the Ukrainian military from advancing.
But in a video link to President Zelensky, army chief Oleksandr Syrskyi stated Ukrainian troops were now fully in control of the Kursk border town of Sudzha.
The BBC is unable to independently verify this claim, but a Ukrainian television report filmed from within the town showed Ukrainian soldiers removing a Russian flag from a school.
Amid Kyiv’s claims of territorial gains, Ukrainian foreign ministry spokesman Heorhiy Tykhy said they were not interested in “taking over” Russian territory.
“The sooner Russia agrees to restore a just peace… the sooner the raids by the Ukrainian defence forces into Russia will stop,” he told reporters.
In an earlier meeting with government officials, Mr Zelensky said he would consider setting up “military commandants’ offices” in the region.
On Wednesday, Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk outlined plans for a “security zone” in Kursk, to protect Ukraine’s borders.
Her Telegram post said Ukraine would organise humanitarian aid for Russian civilians within the security zone, and open evacuation corridors to both Russia and Ukraine.
Yan Furtsev, a local official with Russia’s liberal opposition party, Yabloko, said the situation in the Kursk region was “tense”.
“Citizens that are leaving their homes are in a very difficult psychological situation,” he told BBC Radio 4’s The World Tonight, adding they were experiencing a lot of “stress and sadness”.
Mr Furtsev said about 180,000 civilians needed to be evacuated. So far 121,000 had left, he said, with everyone needing basic essentials such as food and clothing.
Earlier Russia declared a second state of emergency, this time in the neighbouring Belgorod region, where homes have been damaged in drone attacks and shelling.
Moscow says that overnight it shot down 117 drones overnight, which mainly targeted four regions – Kursk, Voronezh, Belgorod and Nizhny Novgorod.
Long-range drones were also fired at Russian airfields in Voronezh and Kursk, as well as Savasleyka and Borisoglebsk, Ukraine’s security services told AFP.
The Ukrainian military quoted a secret service source as calling it a “fun” night at the airports overnight, in what was a specially planned operation.
In his first comments on the operation since it began, US President Joe Biden said that the offensive was “creating a real dilemma for Putin”.
Meanwhile, various European allies have voiced their support for Ukraine.
The prime ministers of Finland and Estonia said they supported Ukraine’s military operation in Kursk, while Latvia’s foreign minister went a step further by saying Kyiv “has the right” to use Nato weapons on Russian territory.
Russia’s President Vladimir Putin had previously described this as a “red line”.
Last week, the German foreign ministry said Ukraine was entitled to self-defence which was “not limited to its own territory”.
