Important events
Opening summary
Hello and welcome to our ongoing coverage of the Russia-Ukraine war.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Ukraine’s military invasion of Russia’s Kursk region was aimed at creating a buffer zone to prevent further attacks from Moscow across the border.
This is the first time that the Ukrainian president has clearly stated the aim of the operation launched on August 6. He had previously indicated that its aim was to protect communities in the Sumy region bordering Ukraine from constant shelling.
In his evening address on Sunday, Zelensky said: “Our main task in the overall defense operations now is to destroy as much of Russia’s war potential as possible and to carry out maximum counteroffensives. This includes the creation of a buffer zone on the territory of the aggressor – our operation in the Kursk region.”
More on this shortly. Further developments:
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Ukraine said it had attacked a second key bridge in the Kursk region to cut off Moscow’s supply routes, marking the second week of Kiev’s unprecedented incursion into Russian soil.“Another bridge is missing,” Ukrainian Air Force Commander Mykola Oleshchuk said on Telegram, posting aerial video of an explosion that destroyed a bridge near the Russian town of Zvannoye. “The Air Force continues to deprive the enemy of its logistical capabilities with its precise air strikes,” he said. On Friday, Ukraine announced it had destroyed another bridge in the neighboring town of Glushkovo.
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Ukraine captured more than 150 Russian prisoners of war in a few days during the cross-border military operation in Kursksaid Oleksii Drozdenko, head of the military administration in the Ukrainian city of Sumy. “Sometimes there are more than 100 or 150 prisoners of war per day,” said Drozdenko. Many of the Russian soldiers guarding the border are young conscripts. “They don’t want to fight us,” he added.
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The Institute for War Research has “observed claims” that the Ukrainian operation in Kursk advanced 800 square kilometers in six days.The first incursion “attacked largely unprepared, unmanned and unequipped Russian defensive positions along the border,” the ISW said in its daily report on the conflict, adding that Ukraine continued to make rapid advances into Kursk “after deploying Russian reinforcements in the region.”
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Russian troops took control of the village of Svyrydonivka in the eastern Ukrainian Donetsk region.the state news agency TASS reported on Sunday, citing the Defense Ministry. The Guardian could not independently verify the report from the battlefield.
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Russia on Sunday denied a report that Ukraine’s attack on the Kursk region had derailed indirect talks with Kyiv on halting attacks on energy and electricity targets.and said there were no ongoing talks. The Washington Post reported Saturday that Ukraine and Russia planned to send delegations to Qatar this month to negotiate a landmark deal halting attacks on both warring sides’ energy and power infrastructure. The Post said the deal would have amounted to a partial ceasefire, but talks derailed because of Ukraine’s attack on Russian territory.
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Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived in Azerbaijan’s capital Baku on Sunday for a two-day state visitRussian news agencies reported. Russian television broadcast images of the Russian president’s plane as it arrived in Baku in the evening. Azerbaijan is a close partner of Moscow, but also an important energy supplier to Western countries. The incident occurred against the backdrop of an unprecedented Ukrainian military offensive on Russian soil.
