Ukraine puts ‘pressure on the aggressor’, catches Russia off-guard in Kursk
Al Jazeera
President Putin and his officials appeared unprepared for Ukraine’s daring invasion, which Kyiv insists is not an attempt to grab land.
Ukraine’s armed forces tore into southwestern Russia in a surprise attack during the past week, claiming almost as much territory as Russian forces have taken in Ukraine since the beginning of the year.
Oleksandr Syrskii, Ukraine’s commander-in-chief, claimed Kyiv’s forces controlled about 1,000sq km (386sq miles) in Russia’s Kursk region on Monday, six days into the offensive.
The Institute for the Study of War, a Washington-based think tank, estimated Ukraine’s advances at about 800sq km (309sq miles) based on satellite imagery and open source information. It assessed that Russian forces had occupied 1,175sq km (454sq miles) of Ukrainian territory since January.
The Ukrainian incursion, undertaken with scant resources while the country defends itself against the Russian full-scale invasion, also compares favourably with Russia’s attempt to open a new front in Kharkiv last May, which advanced 6-10km (4-6 miles) before being stopped.
Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) and border guards in Kursk were clearly caught unprepared.
