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Ukrainian forces have captured hundreds of square miles of territory inside Russia in one of the most significant incursions into Russia since the Secind World War.
Thousands of Ukrainian troops smashed over the border from Ukraine’s Sumy region into the neighbouring Russian Kursk region on 6 August.
Since then, Kyiv’s forces have claimed to have taken more land in just over a week than Russia has in Ukraine during this entire calendar year.
It is the largest foreign attack on sovereign Russian territory since the Second World War.
How much territory has Ukraine taken in Russia?
The numbers vary. Calculating territory taken during an incursion that ebbs and flows is difficult.
Ukraine’s army chief Colonel General Oleksandr Syrksyi claimed on Thursday his forces had captured almost 445 square miles (1,150 sq kilometres) of land in Kursk.
For context, that is nearly three times the amount of territory they retook in occupied Ukraine during their three-month counteroffensive last summer, according to estimates.
The Institute for the Study of War (ISW), a US-based think tank that tracks developments on the frontline, offered a more conservative estimate of around 300 square miles (800 sq km).
Russian officials, military and political, have repeatedly claimed the incursion has been stabilised but footage shared on social media has for several days suggested that this is false. Colonel General Syrksyi also that Kyiv had set up a military commandant’s office in the occupied part of Russia’s Kursk region where he said his forces were still advancing and had taken up to 1.5 km (0.93 miles) in the last 24 hours.
ISW suggests that footage shows Ukraine are pushing on either side of the incursion, which appears like a bulge into Russian territory. The furthest Ukrainian soldiers are about 11 miles from the border into Russia.
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky, meanwhile, said on Wednesday that Kyiv’s forces were pushing “one to two kilometres” further all along the new frontline.
How many troops are involved?
A Ukrainian colonel who asked not to be identified to speak openly about sensitive issues told The Independent that around 8,000 soldiers were involved in the incursion.
Thousands more Ukrainian soldiers were ready to enter the fray, he said.
He claimed, in comments that were mirrored by multiple Ukrainian officials, that the troops were planning to hold their positions to create a “buffer zone”.
Most simply, this zone would put more distance between Russian forces and Ukrainian civilians, reducing, though not halting completely, Moscow’s ability to fire artillery and missiles over the border.
It would also prevent another Russian cross-border assault of their own like the one into the nearby northeast Ukrainian region of Kharkiv in May, which brought the country’s second largest city – with a population of around 1.3 million people – roughly within artillery range of Russian forces.
How many Russian civilians have been evacuated?
Russian officials say nearly 200,000 civilians have been evacuated from the Kursk region and the neighbouring Belgorod area.
Ukrainian forces have not entered Belgorod but a state of emergency has been declared and local officials say Ukraine has launched aerial attacks on the area.
Authorities in the Kursk region decided late on Wednesday night to evacuate another district, Glushkov, as Ukrainian forces continue to advance forwards.
The district directly borders Ukraine and has a population of about 20,000 people. Regional governor Alexei Smirnov said on the Telegram messaging app that police and other state bodies would coordinate the evacuation process.
Have Ukraine captured Russian soldiers?
Mr Zelensky this week claimed one of the goals of the incursion was to replenish an “exchange fund” of Russian prisoners of war.
Thousands of POWs from both sides have been swapped throughout the course of the war in Ukraine, with exchanges taking place roughly every few months.
Private and public estimations of how many Russian soldiers have been captured during this incursion differ significantly.
Mr Zelensky has suggested around Ukrainian troops have taken roughly 100 PoWs; the Ukrainian colonel claimed the true figure was closer to 2,000.
Footage has, however, showed blindfolded men that appear to be Russian soldiers being escorted through the Ukrainian Sumy region in the back of a military pick up.
Source: independent.co.uk
