Ukraine-Russia war latest: Kyiv ‘strikes Putin’s airfields’ 500 miles over border amid Kursk incursion

Zelensky said he had held a meeting on the security and humanitarian situation in Russia’s Kursk region where the Ukrainian military has been advancing in an unprecedented cross-border assault.

“Security, humanitarian aid, creation of military administrations if necessary,” he said on Telegram, posting a video of the meeting with Kyiv’s top officials.

Ukraine is creating a “security zone” in Russia’s Kursk region and plans to organize humanitarian assistance and evacuation corridors for civilians looking to go either to Russia or to Ukraine, deputy prime minister Iryna Vereshchuk said.

She added on Telegram on Wednesday that Ukraine planned to organise access to the area for international humanitarian organizations as well.

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky has claimed his army is continuing to advance deeper into Russia after it launched an incursion over the border just over a week ago.

Zelensky said his forces have moved forward one to two kilometres in various directions inside Kursk today, although this hasn’t been independently verified.

Overnight, Ukraine fired at least 117 drones and four tactical missiles on Russian territory, including 37 on Kursk, Russian officials also said.

Throughout its war with Russia, Ukraine has shown a remarkable capacity to take its much bigger invader by surprise. Since its repulse of Russia’s onslaught in February 2022, the Ukrainians have scored morale-boosting hits on their enemy.

Last week’s sudden incursion into Russian territory is, however, much more dramatic than previous Ukrainian coups.

It came as Western military commentators seemed to agree that Vladimir Putin was winning a brutal war of attrition against his smaller neighbour, maybe forcing Ukraine to accept his demands in the coming months. So, the West was as surprised as the Kremlin by recent events.

In an address on Sunday, the Russian leader accused Ukraine of breaking “all permissible boundaries” after they grabbed up to 95 square miles of land and forced thousands of civilians to evacuate in the process.

Ukraine said its major cross-border assault had advanced one to two kilometres in Russia’s Kursk region since the start of Wednesday and that its troops had finished clearing the Russian town of Sudzha of Moscow’s forces.

Kyiv blindsided Moscow by pouring thousands of troops into the western Russian region of Kursk last week. The surprise operation has given Ukraine its biggest battlefield gains since 2022 after months on the backfoot.

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,” Zelensky wrote in a statement published alongside the video.

Ukraine’s military claims to have destroyed a Russian fighter jet over Kursk.

The General Staff said the Su-34 aircraft, worth around $30m, was destroyed during a combat mission in the Russian border region overnight.

“Work to eliminate the occupiers, their equipment and weapons continues on an ongoing basis,” it said.

Four Russian military airfields were hit in a ‘major drone attack’ carried out overnight, a Ukrainian security source has told the Reuters news agency.

The source said the attack was designed to undermine Russia’s ability to use Su-34 fighter jets, which have been used to hit Ukraine with gliding bombs.

Russian forces are reportedly digging trenches 27 miles from its border with Ukraine in the Kursk region.

Satellite images have shown the hastily-dug defensive lines appearing miles away from Ukraine’s current battlefield positions inside Russian territory, near to Lgov and Kurchatov.

The moves help bolster Russian sources that claimed Russia was planning to halt further Ukrainian advances, despite its military suggesting Ukraine’s offensive had stalled.

Ukraine has captured 100 Russian prisoners of war in Kursk, a top commander has said.