Ukraine’s head commander announced on Monday that Kyiv has taken control of approximately 1,000 square kilometres in Russia’s Kursk region, marking his first public statement since the onset of Ukraine’s largest cross-border offensive in over two years of intense warfare.
As Russia continues to face challenges in countering the offensive a week after its commencement, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy released a video of Oleksandr Syrskyi, the chief of Ukraine’s armed forces, reporting on the combat situation.
“Our offensive operations in the Kursk region are ongoing. At present, we hold control over roughly 1,000 square kilometres within the Russian Federation,” he stated.
Zelenskiy mentioned that a high-level meeting had mandated the development of a “humanitarian plan” for the region.
Alexei Smirnov, the interim governor of the Kursk region, acknowledged that Ukraine has taken over 28 settlements, with the incursion extending 12 kilometres in depth and spanning 40 kilometres in width.
In a declaration, the Ukrainian president instructed the defence ministry and diplomatic corps to compile a list of “essential actions” required to obtain authorization from Kyiv’s Western allies for the deployment of long-range weaponry in strikes against Russia.
Earlier that day, Defense Minister Rustem Umerov appealed to Paris to remove restrictions on Western weapon strikes on Russian military targets during a conversation with his French counterpart, Sebastien Lecornu, according to the Ukrainian statement.
