Ukrainian forces have seized more areas “near the border with Ukraine” during their invasion of Russia’s Kursk region, President Volodymyr Zelensky said in his daily video address on Wednesday.
Zelensky did not provide further details, but said more Russian prisoners of war had been captured for a possible exchange.
“Thank you, warriors! This is something that will help bring many of our people back from Russian captivity,” Zelensky said.
On August 6, Ukrainian troops invaded Russia in a surprise attack in the Kursk region.
Zelensky said the offensive helped prevent Russia from further pressuring Ukrainian forces in Ukraine’s besieged eastern Donetsk region.
So far, however, there has been no visible improvement among the troops in Donetsk. Western military observers even confirm that Russian troops are making progress in the Pokrovsk district.
Zelensky also admitted that the situation in Donetsk was “extremely difficult”.
“The main Russian efforts and their largest military forces are concentrated there,” he said.
Authorities have ordered residents of Pokrovsk, a strategically important city with a railway junction, to evacuate as Russian troops approach. However, 38,000 people remain in the city, including 1,900 children.
Ukrainian drone attack causes fire at fuel depot
A Ukrainian drone strike has caused a fire at a fuel depot in the Kamensk district of southern Russia, Rostov region Governor Vasily Golubev said on Wednesday.
There were no casualties, he said.
In the Rostov region, a large fuel depot in the city of Proletarsk has been burning for days after a drone attack.
The Russian Defense Ministry said 12 Ukrainian drones were intercepted overnight — four over the Rostov region and eight over the Voronezh region in southern Russia. The military information could not be independently verified.
In the Voronezh region, residents of two villages had to temporarily leave their homes, the regional administration said.
Airports closed due to drone threat
Ukraine’s drone attacks appear to be penetrating further into Russia. Airports in Kazan and Nizhnekamsk, far east of Moscow, have temporarily suspended flights, the Rosaviatsiya aviation authority said. Media reports said the suspension was due to the danger posed by drones in the air.
Ukraine has been holding off a Russian invasion for two and a half years, and with the ever-increasing range of its combat drones, it is now attacking locations far behind the front lines.
