Ukraine captures town of Sudzha as incursion into Russia enters second week

Advancing Ukrainian troops have now taken control of a significant Russian town, according to President Zelensky, Robert Moore reports

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has announced that troops involved in an incursion into Russian territory have taken full control of the town of Sudzha.

The town in the Kursk region is the largest settlement seized by Ukraine's forces so far, with a pre-war population of 5,000 people.

It comes as Ukraine claims to have taken more than 100 Russian soldiers captive, with a view to swapping them for Ukrainian prisoners of war.

Sudzha holds a measuring station for Russian natural gas that flows from West Siberian gas fields, through the town and then onward via Ukrainian pipelines to Europe. The flow accounts for about 3% of Europe's gas imports.

Zelenskyy said on Thursday a Ukrainian military commander’s office is being set up in the town.

Russia has not given a response to claims the town has been taken, but its defence ministry said Russian forces had blocked attempts to take several other communities.

According to satellite images, a Ukrainian drone attack on Russian air bases has damaged at least two hangars.

Kursk acting Governor Alexei Smirnov ordered the evacuation of the Glushkovo region on Thursday, about 45 kilometers northwest of Sudzha.

According to Russian authorities, more than 120,000 residents in the Kursk region have already been evacuated.

One of those who fled her home, Tatyana Anikeyeva, said: “We were rushing from Sudzha. We hid in the bushes.

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"Volunteers were handing out water, food, bread to people on the go. The sound of the cannonade continued without any break. The house was shaking.”

Ukraine's chief military officer Oleksandr Syrsky said Ukrainian forces have taken around 1,000 square kilometres of the Kursk region.

Russia’s Deputy UN Ambassador Dmitry Polyansky dismissed the claim, and said: “What’s happening in Kursk is the incursion of terrorist sabotage groups, so there is no front line as such.

“There is an incursion because there are forests that are very difficult to control.”

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