A still image taken from a handout video provided by the Russian Defence Ministry shows the BM-21 ‘Grad’, a self-propelled 122 mm multiple rocket launcher, firing near the line of combat close to Soledar, Donetsk Region, Ukraine, 13 August 2024. EPA-EFE/RUSSIAN DEFENCE MINISTRY HANDOUT The Russians were captured Wednesday in a sprawling underground complex, and had ample stocks of ammunition and supplies, the person said. Russia hasn’t commented.
Ukraine now controls 1,150 square kilometers (444 square miles) of Russian territory, including 82 villages and towns, since the incursion that began 10 days ago, Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi told President Volodymyr Zelenskiy in a video report posted on Zelenskiy’s Telegram channel Thursday. The claims couldn’t be independently verified.
Zelenskiy said Ukraine has set up a military command post in the Kursk regional town of Sudzha, which Syrskyi said would be used to maintain public order and provide for the basic needs of the local population. The president praised Ukraine’s troops in the region for replenishing the “exchange fund” for prisoner swaps in his regular video address on Wednesday.
Russian officials have already contacted Ukraine about a possible prisoner exchange, Dmytro Lubinets, the parliamentary human rights commissioner in Kyiv, said in televised comments Wednesday. He declined to give details, including on the total number of servicemen who’ve been captured.
Russian human rights ombudsman Tatiana Moskalkova, who represents the Kremlin in negotiations on prisoner swaps, didn’t immediately respond to a request to comment.
Russian Defense Minister Andrey Belousov held talks with military officials “on ensuring the security of the population” in border regions, the Defense Ministry in Moscow said in a post Thursday on Telegram.
Belousov discussed measures to ensure “the integrity and inviolability” of the Belgorod region, which neighbors Kursk, against Ukrainian attacks, saying he’d personally monitor their implementation, according to the statement.
The authorities in Moscow declared a federal state of emergency in Belgorod on Thursday. Regional Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said it was facing repeated drone attacks and shelling from Ukrainian forces.
Fighting continues in eastern Ukraine where Russian forces are advancing to within 10 kilometers of the Donetsk region city of Pokrovsk. The head of the local administration, Serhii Dobriak, urged residents to leave, saying in a video on its website that “the situation is only getting worse” in the city that’s an important logistics hub in the region for Ukraine.