Russia has said that its forces checked an effort by Ukrainian troops to expand a stunning weeklong incursion into the Kursk region, as a Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesperson said Kiev has no intention of occupying Russian territory.
Russian army units, including fresh reserves, aircraft, drone teams and artillery forces, stopped on Tuesday Ukrainian armoured mobile groups from moving deeper into Russia near the Kursk settlements of Obshchy Kolodez, Snagost, Kauchuk, and Alexeyevsky, a Russian Defence Ministry statement said.
The commander of the Ukrainian military, Oleksandr Syrskyi, said in a video posted on Tuesday to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s Telegram channel that Ukraine now controls 74 settlements in the Kursk region.
Ukrainian troops have continued to advance, gaining control over 40 square kilometres of territory in the past 24 hours, Syrskyi said.
"Fights are ongoing along the entire front line. The situation, despite the high intensity of combat, is under control," he added.
About 121,000 people have been evacuated from Kursk or have fled the areas affected by fighting on their own, Russian officials say. The Institute for the Study of War, a Washington-based think tank, said it had seen geolocated footage indicating that Ukrainian forces advanced as much as 24 kilometres from the border.
The Russian Defence Ministry appeared to support that claim when it said on Tuesday it had also blocked an attack by the units of Ukraine's 82nd Air Assault Brigade toward Maryinka, which is about that distance from Ukraine.
Russian state television on Tuesday showed residents from evacuated areas lining up in buildings and on the street to receive food and water.
Volunteers were pictured distributing bags of aid, while officials from the country’' Ministry of Emergency Situations helped people, including children and older people, off buses.
'Ukraine is not interested in taking territory'
Meanwhile, Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Heorhii Tykhyi said the cross-border operation was aimed at protecting Ukrainian land from long-range strikes launched from Kursk.
"Ukraine is not interested in taking the territory of the Kursk region, but we want to protect the lives of our people," Tykhyi was quoted as saying by local media.
He said Russia had launched more than 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.
"The purpose of this operation is to preserve the lives of our children, to protect the territory of Ukraine from Russian strikes," he said.
A motive behind Ukraine's bold dive into Russia was to stir up unrest, according to Russian President Vladimir Putin, but he said that effort would fail.
The Ukrainian Army's General Staff announced on Tuesday that it was establishing a 20-kilometre restricted-access zone along the Russian-Ukrainian border in the northeastern Sumy region, which borders Kursk.
The measures were introduced because of the increasing intensity of combat in the area and the rising presence of Russian reconnaissance and sabotage units there, a statement said.
The Ukrainian military claims that its charge onto Russian soil that began August 6 has already encompassed about 1,000 square kilometres of Russian territory.
Analysts say a catalyst may also have been Ukraine's desire to ease pressure on its frontline by attempting to draw the Kremlin's forces into defending Kursk and other border areas.
If so, the increased pressure around Pokrovsk suggests Moscow did not take the bait.
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