Zelenskyy visits area bordering Russia amid offensive in Kursk
Kyiv, August 22
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced the capture of another Russian village as he visited a border area from which Ukrainian forces entered Russia over two weeks ago, but Moscow said its troops had taken a village in east Ukraine.
Kyiv also said it had mounted a drone strike on an air base in southern Russia, its latest counterattack as Russian forces slowly advance in eastern Ukraine 2-1/2 years after Moscow’s full-scale invasion.
Russia said its troops had beaten back an attempt by a Ukrainian force to infiltrate its border in a different region to Kyiv’s initial incursion into Russia on August 6.
The raid took place about 240 km from the site of the Ukrainian incursion into Kursk region in western Russia, suggesting that the Kyiv government may be aiming to take the war to more border areas.
Authorities in Kursk said they had begun installing concrete shelters to help protect civilians amid the Ukrainian incursion.
The Russian defence ministry said on Thursday its forces had captured the village of Mezhove in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region.
Zelenskyy said he had met his top commander, Colonel General Oleksandr Syrskyi, during his visit to the border region of Sumy. Official video footage showed them shaking hands and embracing but did not make clear when the visit took place.
