Ukraine says advance into Russia 'going well', creates strategic buffer
Kyiv to help evacuate civilians from Kursk region
Ukraine attacks Russia with 117 drones, Russia says
Bloggers say Russia fighting intense battles in Kursk region
Russian National Guard beefs up security at nuclear plant
Adds evacuation order in Glushkovo, paragraph 19
By Pavel Polityuk, Tom Balmforth and Yuliia Dysa
KYIV, Aug 14 (Reuters) -Ukraine's forces advanced further into Russia's Kursk region on Wednesday as Kyiv said its gains would provide a strategic buffer zone to protect its border areas from Russian attacks.
Kyiv's surge into Russian territory last week caught Moscow by surprise. Russian forces that began a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 had been grinding out steady gains all year.
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said he met top officials to discuss the humanitarian situation and establishing a military commandant's offices “if needed” in an occupied area that Kyiv says exceeds 1,000 sq km (390 sq miles).
"We continue to advance further in Kursk," Zelenskiy wrote on Telegram, "from one to two km in various areas since the start of the day".
Later, in his nightly address, Zelenskiy referred to the growing number of Russian prisoners of war taken in Kursk who could be exchanged for Ukrainian fighters.
"Our advance in Kursk is going well today – we are reaching our strategic goal. The 'exchange fund' for our state has also been significantly replenished."
Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said creation of a "buffer zone" was "designed to protect our border communities from daily enemy attacks".
Russia has been pummelling Ukraine with strikes launched from adjacent border territories, including Kursk.
Ukraine complains its defence against such attacks has been hamstrung by the need to respect Western countries' compunction about using their weapons against Russia's hinterland rather than against its forces in occupied Ukraine. Zelenskiy once more urged Western allies to permit long-range missile strikes into Russia.
RUSSIA SAYS IT DOWNS UKRAINIAN DRONES
Russian President Vladimir Putin has vowed to expel the Ukrainian troops. He says they aim, with Western backing, to give Kyiv a stronger hand in possible future ceasefire talks. But more than a week of intense battles have so far failed to oust them.
"The situation remains difficult," said Yuri Podolyaka, an influential Ukrainian-born, pro-Russian military blogger.
Ukraine's General Staff said Kyiv hit four Russian military airfields overnight in the Russian regions of Voronezh, Kursk and Nizhniy Novgorod, targeting fuel stores and aerial weapons. Zelenskiy called the attack "timely" and "accurate".
The aim of the long-range drone strike was to undermine Russia's ability to attack Ukraine with glide bombs, a Ukrainian security source told Reuters on condition of anonymity. Ukraine's military said it had destroyed a Russian Su-34.
Moscow said it shot down 117 of the Ukrainian drones as well as four missiles. The Russian Defence Ministry posted a video on Telegram that it said showed Sukhoi Su-34 bombers striking Ukrainian positions in Kursk region.
Later, Russia's defence ministry said its forces had repelled a series of Ukrainian attacks inside Kursk, including at Russkoye Porechnoye, 18 km (11 miles) from the border. Some pro-Russian war bloggers said the front had been stabilised, while state television said Moscow's forces were turning the tide.
Russia's National Guard said it was beefing up security at the Kursk nuclear power plant, just 35 km (22 miles) from the fighting.
In the Russian border region of Belgorod, governor Vyacheslav Gladkov declared a state of emergency.
Russia says it has already evacuated around 200,000 people from the border zone. The acting governor of the Kursk region late on Wednesday said on Telegram that residents of the border settlement of Glushkovo were ordered to evacuate.
UKRAINE PLANS CIVILIAN EVACUATION CORRIDORS
Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said Kyiv would open humanitarian corridors for evacuating civilians toward both Russia and Ukraine.
Ukrainian officials said Kyiv would also arrange access for international humanitarian organisations, likely to include the International Committee of the Red Cross and the United Nations.
The unprecedented incursion carries major risks for Russia, Ukraine and the West, which is keen to avoid a direct confrontation between Russia and the U.S.-led NATO military alliance that has helped arm Ukraine.
U.S. President Joe Biden said U.S. officials were in constant touch with Kyiv over the incursion, although the White House said Washington had not received advance notice and had no involvement.
Russian officials say Ukraine's Western backers must have known of the attack. "Of course they are involved," lawmaker Maria Butina told Reuters.
The offensive could leave Ukrainian forces more exposed on other parts of the front, where Russia has been slowly adding to the 18% of Ukrainian territory it now controls.
The heaviest fighting is still in the Donetsk region, and Zelenskiy said his forces there would receive more weapons than planned from the next Western support package.
Ukraine's top commander, Oleksandr Syrskyi, said the Russian town of Sudzha, a transhipment hub for Russian natural gas flowing to Europe via Ukraine, was fully under Ukrainian control. Natural gas was still flowing on Wednesday.
"Sudzha is under Ukrainian control. However, Ukraine has no intention of claiming someone else’s land," the Kyiv foreign ministry said on X.
The Russian rouble RUB= fell further against the dollar on Wednesday, for a loss of over 8% since the incursion began.
Writing by Lidia Kelly in Melbourne, Tom Balmforth in Kyiv and Kevin Liffey in London; editing by Jamie Freed, Mark Heinrich, Ros Russell, Sharon Singleton, David Gregorio and Cynthia Osterman
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تازہ ترين خبريں
دستبرداری: XM Group کے ادارے ہماری آن لائن تجارت کی سہولت تک صرف عملدرآمد کی خدمت اور رسائی مہیا کرتے ہیں، کسی شخص کو ویب سائٹ پر یا اس کے ذریعے دستیاب کانٹینٹ کو دیکھنے اور/یا استعمال کرنے کی اجازت دیتا ہے، اس پر تبدیل یا توسیع کا ارادہ نہیں ہے ، اور نہ ہی یہ تبدیل ہوتا ہے یا اس پر وسعت کریں۔ اس طرح کی رسائی اور استعمال ہمیشہ مشروط ہوتا ہے: (i) شرائط و ضوابط؛ (ii) خطرہ انتباہات؛ اور (iii) مکمل دستبرداری۔ لہذا اس طرح کے مواد کو عام معلومات سے زیادہ کے طور پر فراہم کیا جاتا ہے۔ خاص طور پر، براہ کرم آگاہ رہیں کہ ہماری آن لائن تجارت کی سہولت کے مندرجات نہ تو کوئی درخواست ہے، اور نہ ہی فنانشل مارکیٹ میں کوئی لین دین داخل کرنے کی پیش کش ہے۔ کسی بھی فنانشل مارکیٹ میں تجارت میں آپ کے سرمائے کے لئے ایک خاص سطح کا خطرہ ہوتا ہے۔
ہماری آن لائن تجارتی سہولت پر شائع ہونے والے تمام مٹیریل کا مقصد صرف تعلیمی/معلوماتی مقاصد کے لئے ہے، اور اس میں شامل نہیں ہے — اور نہ ہی اسے فنانشل، سرمایہ کاری ٹیکس یا تجارتی مشورے اور سفارشات؛ یا ہماری تجارتی قیمتوں کا ریکارڈ؛ یا کسی بھی فنانشل انسٹرومنٹ میں لین دین کی پیشکش؛ یا اسکے لئے مانگ؛ یا غیر متنازعہ مالی تشہیرات پر مشتمل سمجھا جانا چاہئے۔
کوئی تھرڈ پارٹی کانٹینٹ، نیز XM کے ذریعہ تیار کردہ کانٹینٹ، جیسے: راۓ، خبریں، تحقیق، تجزیہ، قیمتیں اور دیگر معلومات یا اس ویب سائٹ پر مشتمل تھرڈ پارٹی کے سائٹس کے لنکس کو "جیسے ہے" کی بنیاد پر فراہم کیا جاتا ہے، عام مارکیٹ کی تفسیر کے طور پر، اور سرمایہ کاری کے مشورے کو تشکیل نہ دیں۔ اس حد تک کہ کسی بھی کانٹینٹ کو سرمایہ کاری کی تحقیقات کے طور پر سمجھا جاتا ہے، آپ کو نوٹ کرنا اور قبول کرنا ہوگا کہ یہ کانٹینٹ سرمایہ کاری کی تحقیق کی آزادی کو فروغ دینے کے لئے ڈیزائن کردہ قانونی تقاضوں کے مطابق نہیں ہے اور تیار نہیں کیا گیا ہے، اسی طرح، اس پر غور کیا جائے گا بطور متعلقہ قوانین اور ضوابط کے تحت مارکیٹنگ مواصلات۔ براہ کرم یقینی بنائیں کہ آپ غیر آزاد سرمایہ کاری سے متعلق ہماری اطلاع کو پڑھ اور سمجھ چکے ہیں۔ مذکورہ بالا معلومات کے بارے میں تحقیق اور رسک وارننگ ، جس تک رسائی یہاں حاصل کی جا سکتی ہے۔
