KYIV: Ukraine on Thursday claimed fresh advances in its cross-border offensive into Russia, where it said it had seized over a thousand square kilometers, the biggest attack by a foreign army on Russian soil since World War II. Russia said it had recaptured a first village from Ukrainian forces in the Kursk region and announced it was sending “additional forces” to the neighboring Belgorod region.

Ukraine said it now controlled dozens of settlements and Sudzha, a town eight kilometers (five miles) from the border. “We have taken control of 1,150 square kilometers of territory and 82 settlements,” said top military commander Oleksandr Syrsky. Syrsky’s troops launched the offensive on August 6, breaking months of setbacks for the Ukrainian army that has been battling a Russian invasion for over two years.

The top general also told President Volodymyr Zelensky his army had set up an administrative office “to maintain law and order and meet the priority needs of the population in the controlled territories”.

Zelensky announced “the completion of the liberation of the town of Sudzha from the Russian military”.

At an Orthodox church in the centre of Sumy, the regional hub across the border from Kursk, dozens of mourners gathered Thursday to pay their final respects to six Ukrainian servicemen killed since Kyiv launched its offensive. Tearful family members of the victims received a steady stream of friends and relatives wearing black and clutching wreaths as the priest intoned a funeral mass and incense hung in the air. “It is hard to say goodbye to them, because we want them to live forever, to live among us as honored sons of their homeland,” the priest told mourners.

“Our task is to pray for our heroic fighters and their families.” Pallbearers lifted the coffins one by one for burial as a choir sang hymns in harmony. Air raid sirens echoed over Sumy as the service ended.

In Kursk, AFP reporters saw around 500 evacuees from border areas queuing for food and clothes being distributed by the Russian Red Cross. Russia says over 120,000 people have left or been evacuated.

The assault took Russian troops by surprise and triggered the evacuation of tens of thousands. The fighting killed at least 12 civilians and wounded 121 others according to Russian authorities, who have not released a toll since Monday. Moscow scrambled reinforcement and announced the recapture of a first village in the Kursk region on Thursday. The ministry said the army had “completed destruction of the enemy and restored control of the settlement of Krupets.”

The Russian army also announced measures to prevent attacks on neighboring regions, particularly Belgorod. The Russian army has prepared “concrete actions” to defend the Belgorod region from Ukrainian attacks, minister Andrei Belousov said at a meeting with officials including Belgorod region governor Vyacheslav Gladkov. They include “the allocation of additional forces.”

Both Kursk and Belgorod regions have seen small incursions since Russian President Vladimir Putin launched his invasion of Ukraine. — AFP