Ukraine claimed to have shot down a Russian fighter jet on Wednesday as Kyiv’s forces escalated the biggest foreign incursion suffered by Russia since the Second World War.
Kyiv’s military said its forces destroyed the Russian Su-34 aircraft overnight in the Kursk region while carrying out a combat mission.The unverified claim came as the governor of a second Russian border region declared a state of emergency.The declaration by Belgorod’s governor Vyacheslav Gladkov follows Kyiv’s surprise cross-border attack in the neighbouring Kursk region last week, leading to mass evacuations and a state of emergency being declared there by Russian president Vladimir Putin.
“The situation in the Belgorod region continues to be extremely difficult and tense,” Mr Gladkov said in a video posted on the Telegram messaging app.
Ukraine claimed that 100 Russian prisoners of war had been captured in Kursk since Ukrainian troops crossed the border into the Russian territory last week.
In a video posted on his Telegram account, President Volodymyr Zelensky was shown being briefed by his top commander, Oleksandr Syrskyi, by video link.
“We continue to advance further in Kursk region. From one to two kilometres in various areas since the start of the day. And more than 100 Russian prisoners of war in the same period," Mr Zelensky wrote in a statement published alongside the video.
US president Joe Biden said that officials were in constant touch with Kyiv over the raids, which he said had “created a real dilemma” for Putin.
Ukraine’s Western allies say they were not given prior notice of the raids, but Polish prime minister Donald Tusk said on Tuesday that “Ukraine has every right to wage war in such a way as to paralyse Russia in its aggressive intentions as effectively as possible”.
Thousands of Ukrainian troops crossed the border last week into Russia’s western Kursk region, overcoming weak or non-existent resistance, in what the Russian president said was aimed at getting the upper hand in any future ceasefire talks.
Russian commanders say the front in Kursk has stabilised. But Zelensky has said his forces are continuing to advance and ordered his generals to develop the next “key steps” of the operation. Ukraine claims control now of at least 1,000 sq km (386 square miles) of Russian sovereign territory, more than double the figure conceded by Moscow, and of 74 settlements in the Kursk region.
Ukrainian military chief Syrskyi said: “Fights are ongoing along the entire front line. The situation, despite the high intensity of combat, is under control.”
He stated Ukrainian troops were now fully in control of the Kursk border town of Sudzha.
In Kyiv, foreign ministry spokesman Heorhii Tykhyi said the operation was aimed at protecting Ukraine from long-range strikes launched from Kursk. He said: “Ukraine is not interested in taking the territory of the Kursk region, but we want to protect the lives of our people.” He said that Russia had launched 2,000 strikes from the Kursk region in recent months using anti-aircraft missiles, artillery, mortars, drones, 255 glide bombs and more than 100 missiles.
Yuri Podolyaka, a Ukrainian-born but pro-Russian military blogger, undercut Moscow’s claims that Russian forces were regaining control. He said: “The situation still remains difficult. The enemy still has the initiative, and so, albeit slowly, it is increasing its presence in the Kursk region.”
Putin said on Monday that Ukraine “with the help of its Western masters” was aiming to improve Kyiv’s negotiating position and to slow the advance of Russian forces. But he questioned the point of any negotiations, and meanwhile Russian forces continue to attack targets inside Ukraine.
