KYIV: Thousands of Ukrainian troops are taking part in a major incursion into Russian territory, aiming to destabilise Russia by showing up its weaknesses, a top Ukrainian official said.
Russia's army on Sunday appeared to acknowledge Ukraine had pierced deep into its territory in the six-day offensive, saying it had hit Ukrainian troops and equipment in places around 30 kilometres from the border. "We are on the offensive. The aim is to stretch the positions of the enemy, to inflict maximum losses and to destabilise the situation in Russia as they are unable to protect their own border," the security official said on condition of anonymity.
The shock offensive appeared to catch the Kremlin off guard. The Ukrainian official also said Russia's claims that it had deployed 1,000 troops were a major underestimation of the forces Kyiv has committed to the operation. "It is a lot more... Thousands".
After days of official silence, President Volodymyr Zelensky acknowledged the offensive for the first time in his nightly address on Saturday, saying that Kyiv was "pushing the war into the aggressor's territory".
The defence ministry on Sunday said it had "foiled attempts" by Ukrainian troops, using armoured vehicles "to break through deep into Russian territory."
But in an apparent sign of how far some Ukrainian units have managed to advance, it said it had hit enemy units near the villages of Tolpino and Obshchy Kolodez, which are around 25 km and 30 km from the Russia-Ukraine border.
Journalists in Ukraine's Sumy region, from where Ukraine launched the incursion, saw dozens of armoured vehicles daubed with a white triangle on Sunday -- the insignia apparently being used to identify Ukrainian military hardware being used in the attack. Neither side has given precise details on the extent of their deployments to the new conflict zone.
Ukrainian authorities in the Sumy region have also announced plans to evacuate some 20,000 people close to the Russian border, which has come under fire in response.
At an evacuation centre in the regional capital of Sumy, retired metal worker Mykola, who had fled his village of Khotyn some 26 kilometres from the Russian border, said the offensive had given him a morale boost.
Russia has vowed a "tough" response to the incursion and a Ukrainian missile strike on a residential building in Kursk that it said injured 15. An overnight missile attack near the Ukrainian capital Kyiv killed a man and his four-year-old son, emergency services said. — AFP
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