KYIV (Reuters) – Ukraine’s top commander said on Tuesday that Kiev’s forces were still advancing in Russia’s Kursk region, but warned that Moscow was building up its forces on the eastern Pokrovsk front, where Russian troops have advanced.
General Oleksandr Syrskyi said by video link in televised remarks that Russia was trying to disrupt Ukraine’s supply lines to the front near Pokrovsk, a coal mining town that has strategic military value as a transport hub.
“The situation on the Pokrovsk front is quite difficult … the enemy uses its advantages in personnel, weapons and military equipment, it actively uses artillery and aviation,” he said.
Ukraine’s three-week-old incursion into Russia’s Kursk region has taken 100 settlements, he said.
Moscow’s troops attempted counterattacks in the area and encircled Kiev’s forces, but those attempts were repulsed, he added.
He said one of the objectives of the Kursk operation was to divert Russian forces from other areas, mainly the Pokrovsk and Kurakhov sectors.
“The Kursk operation diverted a significant number of its forces,” he said, noting that Russian troops had been withdrawn from Ukraine’s south.
“As of now, we can say that about 30,000 servicemen have been sent to the Kursk front and this number is growing.”
But he said Russia was strengthening its strength on the Pokrovsk front.
Disclosing a number for the first time, Syrskyi said Ukraine had captured 594 Russian servicemen during its operation in the Kursk region.
(Reporting by Olena Harmash and Pavel Polityuk; Writing by Tom Balmforth; Editing by Kevin Liffey)