Ukraine 'captures 100 prisoners of war' and 'launches major attack on airfields' as troops take more Russian land

14 August 2024, 20:40

Ukrainian forces continued their advancement into Russia’s Kursk region on Wednesday, taking more ground, capturing 100 prisoners of war and destroying a Russian bomber.

Troops captured around 2km more of the Kursk region on Wednesday, Ukraine’s Gen. Oleksandr Syrskyi, said in a video posted on President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s Telegram page.

More than 100 Russian soldiers were taken prisoner during this advancement, Syrskyi added.

These POWs will be offered in swaps for Ukrainian captives, President Zelenskyy has said.

And in another blow to Putin’s invasion, Zelenskyy’s forces destroyed a Russian Su-34 jet used to launch destructive glide bombs at Ukraine’s frontline.

In Ukraine’s largest wave of drone attacks of the war so far, troops attacked four Russian military airfields as part of the advancement, Reuters reports.

These strikes came in a bid to undermine Russia’s stock of warplanes capable of launching gliding bombs.

Ukraine has said it will aid in the evacuation of civilians from the Kursk region, as the Governor of nearby Belgorod declared a state of emergency.

On Tuesday, Mr Zelenskyy warned Russia that the war was "coming home" after his troops seized 1,000 square kilometres of the border territory.

Mr Zelenskyy said his forces would "ensure peace" by moving across the border into the Kursk region of Russia, in a move that Vladimir Putin has blasted as "a provocation".

Over 100,000 people have been forced to flee the region and part of the neighbouring Belgorod region because of the dangers posed by the military incursion to civilians.

Mr Zelenskyy said: "Russia brought war to others, now it’s coming home.

"Ukraine has always wanted only peace, and we will certainly ensure peace.”

Putin has vowed to "kick the enemy out of our territory" and said the incursion would not distract from Russia's own war aims in Ukraine, which it invaded two and a half years ago.

He said Kyiv aimed to "intimidate society and to undermine stability", adding that the incursion was an attempt by Ukraine "with the help of its western masters” to gain a bargaining chip in future peace talks.

The incursion marks the first time a Russian leader has ceded territory to a foreign invader since the Second World War.

Around 121,000 people have been evacuated from the Kursk region with another 59,000 told to leave following the advancement that has left the Kremlin rattled.

Matthew Savill, military sciences director at the Royal United Services Institute, said Russia has been "severely embarrassed".

"The loss of territory and evacuation of civilians will play poorly back in Russia as evidence they 'can't defend themselves'," he added.

Putin said: "It's obvious that the enemy will keep trying to destabilise the situation in the border zone to try to destabilise the domestic political situation in our country".

Putin said Ukraine had failed in its aim to destabilise Russia though and that Moscow's military must "dislodge" Ukrainian troops from border regions.

He previously described the move by Kyiv as a "large-scale provocation" that involved the "indiscriminate shelling of civilian buildings, residential houses and ambulances."