Zelensky says Ukrainian troops have taken full control of the Russian town of Sudzha
KYIV, Ukraine — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Thursday that his country’s troops had taken full control of Sudzha, which would be the largest Russian town to fall under Ukraine’s purview since the start of its cross-border incursion more than a week ago.
Although it had a prewar population of only about 5,000 people, Sudzha is the administrative center for the border area of Russia’s Kursk region and is larger than any of the other towns or settlements that Ukraine says its forces have taken since the incursion began Aug. 6.
Zelensky said Ukraine’s military was setting up a command office in Sudzha, which suggests that Ukraine might plan to remain in the Kursk region long-term — or just signal to Moscow that it may intend to do so.
He didn’t elaborate on what functions the office might handle, though he said earlier that Ukraine would be distributing humanitarian aid to Sudzha residents in need.
Russia didn’t immediately respond to Zelensky’s claims, but its Defense Ministry said earlier Thursday that Russian forces had blocked Ukrainian attempts to take several other communities.
The surprise Ukrainian incursion has reframed the war and caused chaos in the Kursk region, leading to the evacuation of more than 120,000 civilians, according to Russian authorities, and the capture of at least 100 Russian troops, according to Kyiv.
A California dual U.S.-Russian citizen is convicted of treason in Russia and sentenced to 12 years over a $51 donation to a charity aiding Ukraine.
Zelensky has said one of the reasons for the incursion was to protect neighboring Ukrainian regions. “The more Russian military presence is destroyed in the border regions, the closer peace and real security will be for our state. The Russian state must be responsible for what it has done,” he said Tuesday.
Russia has seen previous raids of its territory in the war, but the Kursk incursion is notable for its size, speed, the reported involvement of battle-hardened Ukrainian brigades, and the length of time they have stayed inside Russia. As many as 10,000 Ukrainian troops are involved, according to Western military analysts. It’s the first time foreign troops have invaded and held Russian territory since Nazi Germany did in World War II.
Although Russian military bloggers report that Russian reserves sent to the Kursk region have slowed Ukrainian advances, questions remain over whether the incursion might force Moscow to move troops to Kursk from front-line positions in eastern Ukraine, where they’ve made slow but steady advances this year.
As Kyiv was trumpeting its gains in Kursk on Thursday, officials in the eastern Ukrainian city of Pokrovsk, which had a prewar population of about 60,000, warned civilians to evacuate ahead of rapidly approaching Russian troops, who were about six miles from the city’s outskirts. If Russian troops capture Pokrovsk, they would further advance toward their goal of capturing Ukraine’s entire Donetsk region.
White House national security spokesman John F. Kirby said Thursday that Russia had withdrawn some forces, including infantry units, from Ukraine and was shifting them to Kursk, but that the U.S. didn’t know how many troops were involved.
However, a U.S. official who spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to comment publicly said it doesn’t appear that Russia has moved a sufficient number of armored battalions or other types of combat power from the front line in Ukraine to the Kursk region, and that Moscow will need to shift more troops to repel Kyiv’s forces.
Asked Thursday if the Pentagon was considering limiting any support to Ukraine in light of the latest incursion, spokeswoman Sabrina Singh said it doesn’t affect what the U.S. is sending, but that “you’ve seen us modify and give different capabilities over time, and we reserve that right to continue to do that.”
Ukraine says it has captured more Russian ground and prisoners and destroyed a bomber in attacks on military airfields in its advance into Russia.
Russian military bloggers reported that Ukrainian small mechanized groups have continued to probe Russian defenses. And satellite images analyzed by the Associated Press on Thursday show that a Ukrainian drone attack on Russian air bases damaged at least two hangars and other areas.
Images taken Wednesday by Planet Labs PBC show that two hangars at Borisoglebsk air base had been struck, with a field of debris around both. It was not immediately clear what purpose the hangars served. There also appeared to be potential damage to two fighter aircraft at the base.
Separately, at Savasleika air base, one burn mark could be seen just off the runway in images Wednesday, though there was no apparent damage to the fighter jets and other aircraft there.
As of Thursday, the Ukrainian military said it held more than 80 towns and settlements in the Kursk region.
Kursk’s acting Gov. Alexei Smirnov on Thursday ordered the evacuation of the Glushkovo region, about 30 miles northwest of Sudzha. The order suggests that Ukrainian forces were gradually advancing toward the area.
At a facility receiving evacuees, Tatyana Anikeyeva told Russian state television about her ordeal fleeing from the fighting. “We were rushing from Sudzha. … We hid in the bushes. Volunteers were handing out water, food, bread to people on the go. The sound of the cannonade continued without any break. The house was shaking.”
Evacuees milled around and waited in long lines for food and other supplies. One man stroked his pet dog and tried to comfort her, while saying that he felt nauseated and had no appetite.
Russia also declared a federal-level state of emergency in the Belgorod region, a day after a regional-level declaration was made for the area. The change in status suggests that officials believe the situation is worsening and hampering the region’s ability to deliver aid.
Ukraine’s chief military officer, Gen. Oleksandr Syrskyi, said this week that Ukrainian forces had taken about 390 square miles of the Kursk region, though his assertion couldn’t be independently verified. The contact lines in Kursk have remained fluid, allowing both sides to maneuver easily, unlike the static front line in eastern Ukraine where it has taken Russian forces months to achieve even incremental gains.
Russian officials have challenged Syrskyi’s territorial claim.
“What’s happening in Kursk is the incursion of terrorist sabotage groups, so there is no front line as such,” Russia’s deputy U.N. ambassador, Dmitry Polyansky, told reporters Wednesday. “There is an incursion because there are forests that are very difficult to control.”
Polyansky called the incursion an “absolutely reckless and mad operation,” and said Ukraine’s aim to force Russia to move its troops from eastern Ukraine is not happening because “we have enough troops there.”
Kullab and Arhirova write for the Associated Press. AP writers Jim Heintz in Tallinn, Estonia, Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations and Aamer Madhani in Washington contributed to this report.
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