Thousands of Ukrainian troops on incursion to ‘destabilise’ Russia: Official

KYIV: Thousands of Ukrainian troops are taking part in an incursion aiming to destabilise Russia by showing up its weaknesses, a top Ukrainian official has told AFP as the assault entered its sixth day.
“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 Russian army had said about 1,000 Ukrainian troops were deployed in the cross-border incursion which began on Tuesday (Aug 6) and appeared to catch the Kremlin off guard, allowing Ukrainian forces to penetrate Russian defensive lines.
Asked whether the 1,000 figure was right, the official said: “It is a lot more … Thousands.”
After days of official silence, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy 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”.
Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022 and has waged an unrelenting offensive, occupying swathes of eastern and southern Ukraine and subjecting Ukrainian cities to daily missile and drone attacks.
After re-capturing large areas in 2022, Ukrainian forces have largely been on the backfoot and are increasingly struggling with manpower and arms supplies.
But Ukrainian units stormed across the border on Tuesday in what so far has been the largest and most successful such offensive by Kyiv in the conflict.
Its troops have advanced several kilometres forcing Russia’s army to rush in reserves and extra equipment – though neither side has given precise details on the forces committed.
Russia has evacuated more than 76,000 civilians from the area while Ukraine said last week it needs to evacuate 20,000 from the Sumy region across the border.
Russia’s defence ministry on Sunday published footage it said was of its troops destroying Ukrainian military equipment that had advanced into its western Kursk region.
The shock offensive is now into its sixth day.
The attack has “greatly raised our morale, the morale of the Ukrainian army, state and society”, the Ukrainian official said, speaking late on Saturday after weeks of Russian advances in eastern Ukraine.
“This operation has shown that we can go on the offensive, move forward,” the official said.
“It seems that the Russians have problems with coordination, preparedness for action,” he said.
But he said there had been little effect so far on fighting in the east.
“The situation is basically unchanged. Their pressure in the east continues, they are not pulling back troops from the area,” he said, adding only that “the intensity of Russian attacks has gone down a little bit”.
The official said Ukrainian troops would respect international humanitarian law while on Russian territory and had no plans to annexe areas they currently hold.
“There is no idea of annexation … We are operating in strict accordance with international law,” he said, contrasting this with alleged violations by Russian troops in occupied territory.
Asked whether capturing the Kursk nuclear power plant near the border was an aim, he said: “We will see how the Kursk operation will develop”.
“We absolutely will not cause problems for nuclear security. This we can guarantee,” he said.
The International Atomic Energy Agency has urged both sides “to exercise maximum restraint in order to avoid a nuclear accident with the potential for serious radiological consequences”.
On Sunday, Russia promised to retaliate against Ukrainian attacks on its border regions.
“A tough response from the Russian army will not be long in coming,” said foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova.
The White House said on Wednesday it was contacting Ukraine to learn more about the “objectives” of the incursion.
President Joe Biden in May allowed Kyiv to use American-supplied weapons against targets just across the Russian border to repel Moscow’s push on the Kharkiv region.
But White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby has said that “nothing had changed” about United States policy discouraging broader strikes or attacks inside Russia.
Asked whether Western partners had been kept in the dark about Ukraine’s offensive, the official said this was “incorrect”.
“Judging by how actively Western arms are being used, our Western partners played a part indirectly in the planning,” he said.
The official said he expected Russia would “in the end” manage to stop Ukrainian forces in Kursk and retaliate with a large-scale missile attack including “on decision-making centres” in Ukraine.
There has already been more intense bombardment of Ukraine’s Sumy region just across the border from Kursk.
And an overnight missile attack near the Ukrainian capital Kyiv killed a 35-year-old man and his four-year-old son, emergency services said.
Three other people, including a teenage boy, were wounded in the attack just east of the capital, which Zelenskyy said involved a North Korean-made missile.
He did not offer further detail but Ukrainian emergency services earlier said the victims’ home in the Brovary district was struck by debris from a downed Russian missile.
Footage posted by Ukraine’s State Emergency Service showed workers digging through a pile of debris in the darkness and lifting the body of a child from underneath it.
“According to preliminary information, the Russians used a North Korean missile in this attack – yet another deliberate terrorist strike against Ukraine,” Zelenskyy wrote on X, adding that experts were still examining the weapon.
Moscow’s overnight strike also included 57 Iranian-made attack drones that were launched across Ukraine, 53 of which were destroyed by air defences, Kyiv’s air force said.
It said that Russia had fired a total of four North Korean-made KN-23 missiles, but did not specify the fate of the other three.