Ukrainian troops had advanced over an area of 800 square kilometers (308 square miles) of territory in Russia’s Kursk region as of Monday, according to data from Russian sources relayed by the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) and analyzed by AFP.
Kyiv launched a surprise offensive into Russia’s western Kursk region across the border last Tuesday, capturing over two dozen settlements in the most significant cross-border attack on Russian soil since World War II.
The ISW, a non-profit research group based in Washington, DC, gives regular tactical updates on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered his army on Monday to “dislodge” the Ukrainian troops as authorities said over 120,000 people had been evacuated away from the fighting.
Ukraine’s military chief Oleksandr Syrsky told President Volodymyr Zelensky in a video posted Monday that his troops now control about 1,000 square kilometers of Russian territory and are continuing “offensive operations.”
Zelensky told the nation in his evening address that the cross-border offensive was “purely a security issue,” capturing “areas from which the Russian army struck at our Sumy region.”