Ukrainian forces advance in southern Russia, capturing dozens of enemy soldiers, Zelensky says

Ukraine says its forces are advancing further in Russia’s Kursk region, a week after the start of its cross-border incursion that has seen Kyiv’s forces claim to have captured enemy soldiers and destroy a Russian fighter jet.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Wednesday his forces had advanced in Russia’s southern Kursk region by 1 to 2 kilometers since the beginning of the day. Kyiv has already claimed to have control over some 1,000 square kilometers (386 square miles) of Russian territory since the start of its surprise assault.

“We are advancing in the Kursk region, 1 to 2 kilometers in various areas since the beginning of the day,” Zelensky said in a video call with Ukrainian military chief Oleksandr Syrskyi on Wednesday.

Zelensky also said 100 Russian servicemen had been captured, adding that this will “accelerate the return of our guys and girls.”

Earlier, video posted by AFP at the Ukrainian border crossing between the Sumy region and Russia’s Kursk region, showed a Ukrainian truck carrying blindfolded men in Russian military uniform traveling away from the Russian border.

CNN has reached out to the Ukrainian military for comment on the video.

A Ukrainian minister said the aim of the operation in Kursk was to create a “security zone” on Russian soil.

Iryna Vereshchuk, the Ukrainian minister for reintegration of temporarily occupied territories, said that the operation was designed to protect the border regions of Ukraine – primarily the border of the Sumy region, which has seen persistent Russian artillery and missile fire throughout the war.

Russia has pulled reserves from key battleground areas in Ukraine and Russian-occupied Crimea in an effort to hold back Kyiv’s advances, a Ukrainian military commander told CNN Wednesday.

Dymtro Kholod, commander of the “Nightingale” battalion, told a CNN team on the ground in Sumy that the military had “information” suggesting Russian soldiers were being pulled from Zaporizhzhia, Crimea and Kharkiv to halt Kyiv’s forces.

The incursion – which poses a major embarrassment for the Kremlin – has prompted an angered Russia to take peace negotiations off the table for the foreseeable future.

The Russian Foreign Ministry’s special envoy, Rodion Miroshnik, said at a briefing on Wednesday that Moscow will be “at minimum” putting the talks with Ukraine on a “long pause.” Peace negotiations between the warring nations have proven unsuccessful since the start of the war in February 2022.

Meanwhile, the Russian border region of Belgorod declared an emergency on Wednesday after new attacks by Ukrainian forces.

“The situation in the Belgorod region continues to be extremely difficult and tense,” Belgorod Gov. Vyacheslav Gladkov said in a video message posted on his Telegram account on Wednesday.

The declaration came after Belgorod began evacuations on Monday as a result of Ukrainian advances.

It was a notable change in tactics for Ukraine and marked the first time foreign troops had entered Russian territory since World War II. Kyiv didn’t officially acknowledge its troops were operating inside Russia until several days later.

Regional authorities are now appealing to the Russian government to declare a federal emergency, Gladkov said.

Two locations in Belgorod, the city of Shebekino and the village of Ustinka, had been attacked by Ukrainian drones, he added. There were no casualties but two residences were damaged.

Russia’s National Guard said on Wednesday that it had tightened security around the Kursk nuclear plant in Russia’s southwest following the surprise incursion. The National Guard, known as the ‘Rosgvardiya,’ said that it had taken “additional measures” to protect the power plant.

Last week, the International Atomic Energy Agency said it was “monitoring the situation on the reported military activities taking place in the vicinity of the Kursk Nuclear Power Plant,” with its director general, Rafael Mariano Grossi, urging both sides to “exercise maximum restraint” in order to avoid “a nuclear accident.”

Meanwhile, Russia’s defense ministry said Wednesday that it had destroyed dozens of drones and four tactical missiles over the Kursk region, part of a barrage including 117 “aircraft-type” drones downed by the country’s air defenses overnight.

The southwest region of Voronezh, which borders both Kursk and Belgorod, destroyed more than 35 Ukraine-launched drones, Gov. Aleksandr Gusev said Wednesday.

There were no casualties, but properties, vehicles and municipal infrastructure were damaged by falling debris, he added, saying the risk of further drone attacks remains.

A statement by the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces on Wednesday claimed that Ukraine’s Air Force “destroyed a Russian SU-34 fighter-bomber” in the Kursk region on Tuesday night.

Since the incursion began, tens of thousands of Russians have fled their homes while Moscow scrambles to contain the attack, imposing counter-terror operations in Kursk, Belgorod and another border region, Bryansk.

On Monday, Kyiv claimed to have gained control of nearly the same amount of land that Russia had seized so far this year – though that is still dwarfed by the total Ukrainian territory held by Russia since the conflict started in 2014.

On Tuesday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said its forces were in control of 74 settlements in Kursk and that they are making preparations for “next steps” in the region.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has meanwhile vowed to “kick the enemy out” of Russia – though his troops have yet to stop the Ukrainian advance.

US President Joe Biden addressed the incursion on Tuesday, saying he was receiving regular updates from staff and that it was “creating a real dilemma for Putin.”

CNN’s Duarte Mendonca, Olga Voitovych, Sergey Gudkov and Victoria Butenko contributed to this report.