Kyiv still advancing in Kursk as Moscow opens 400 shelters amid evacuation

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.

This isn’t a short jaunt into Russia as a propaganda exercise,” a colonel connected to the general staff of Ukraine’s army says of Ukraine’s surprise attack on Russian soil. “This operation has been long in the planning and has serious aims and Ukrainian forces will stay for some time in Russia.”

Backing up the colonel’s assessment, an official who has worked for Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky’s administration as an adviser and in a variety of other important roles, says the Kursk assault will not be a brief incursion but is likely to broaden its scope with the intention of holding onto captured territory.

He said that thousands more troops – potentially several brigades – are standing by, “including some of the best, most experienced troops and brigades” to fight.

Ukraine is not interested in “taking over” territory in Russia, its foreign ministry has said.

Spokesman Georgiy Tykhy also described Ukraine’s week-old invasion of the Kursk area as “absolutely legitimate”.

“Ukraine is not interested in taking over the territory of the Kursk region,” he added.

Two people were killed when Ukrainian forces shelled a bus with civilians in the Russian-held city of Lysychansk in eastern Ukraine on Tuesday, the TASS news agency cited Russian-appointed local authorities as saying.

Russian-installed officials earlier said that more than 30 people had been wounded in the attack.

Ukrainian forces are still “advancing further” into the Russian border region of Kursk as Moscow scrambled to open hundreds of shelters amid a mass evacuation.

The Institute for the Study of War (ISW), a Washington-based think tank, said geolocated footage showed that despite Russian claims that the cross-border assault had stabilised, Kyiv’s forces were still pushing forwards.

Russia’s emergency ministry said 400 temporary shelters across the country had been opened to house around 30,000 people forced to flee Ukraine’s offensive which began last week.

Romania’s navy carried out a controlled explosion on Tuesday of a mine that had drifted to its Black Sea shore, the defence ministry have reported.

Romania, Bulgaria and Turkey have a joint taskforce to defuse stray mines, which began floating in the Black Sea after Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022.

The ministry said the navy was alerted by local officials early on Tuesday about an unidentified object that had washed up on shore near Grindul Chituc in southeastern Romania. The area is part of the Danube Delta, which Romania shares with Ukraine.

“By examining photographs taken on site, the object is most likely an anti-landing seamine of the YaRM type,” the ministry said in a statement. The mine was detonated at around 0950 GMT, the ministry added.

The Black Sea is crucial for shipments of grain, oil and oil products and is shared by Bulgaria, Romania, Georgia and Turkey, as well as Ukraine and Russia.

Since the war started, more than 100 drifting mines have been discovered and destroyed, the Romanian navy has said.

The European Union has sent €4.2 billion (£3.6bn) in “crucial” financial aid to Ukraine, taking the total value of bloc support for Kyiv to €12 billion.

Ukrainian prime minister Denys Shmhyal expressed gratitude to the bloc for actioning the payment and announced that Kyiv has received the funds.

“This assistance is crucial to maintain our macro-financial stability, advance recovery and drive key reforms,” he wrote on X, formerly Twitter.

The United Nations’ human rights agency is concerned about the possible impact of recent military developments in the war between Russia and Ukraine, its spokesperson has said in regard to Ukraine‘s recent cross-border assault on the Kursk region.

“Wherever military operations are occurring by either side, the protection of civilians and civilian objects in accordance with international humanitarian law must be the top priority,” the spokesperson told a briefing.

The UN has unverified reports of four civilians killed, plus one male war correspondent and one female paramedic injured, she added. It has not been able to establish under what circumstances the casualties occurred.