Ukraine pushes deeper into Russia’s Kursk region

Transcript

00:00The news overseas after being on the defensive since Russia launched its invasion of the country

00:04in February 2022. Ukraine in a breathtaking turnaround and counter-offensive has gone

00:10on the attack and claimed some 1250 square kilometers of the Kursk region in Russia.

00:16The U.S. Pentagon correspondent Carla Babb fills us in with the latest developments.

00:20Russia's Kursk region on the border with Ukraine under attack. Ukraine destroyed multiple bridges

00:32in the region this week to block supply routes. Russia firing back into the Ukrainian border

00:38region of Sumy, damaging cars but causing no casualties. The Pentagon now seeing indications

00:45that Russia is moving small numbers of forces into Kursk to repel the Ukrainian offensive.

00:51Russia has really struggled to respond and you continue to see some Ukrainian advances in that

00:58regard. Russia says thousands of civilians have fled the Kursk border region. A Ukrainian journalist

01:06who just returned from the seized town of Sudzha telling VOA Ukraine's forces took the Russian town

01:13with little collateral damage. I was surprised to see that the city itself moved very calm

01:19and literally nothing was going on. It means that the Ukrainian forces they advanced even

01:26further from there. The raid this month now the biggest invasion of Russia since World War II.

01:34Analysts say the strikes give Ukraine the momentum. It now enables the Ukrainians to put

01:42pressure on Russia. It's an embarrassment for the Kremlin. But exactly how this move will shape

01:48the war inside Ukraine remains unclear. A lot of the forces that the Russians are using to defend

01:55against this incursion into the Kursk region are coming from Russia. They're not being withdrawn

02:02from the front line in Ukraine itself although some some small number of soldiers have been

02:07withdrawn. Ukraine said it kept its plans secret from allies because many of them might have tried

02:14to disregard it as unrealistic. The Pentagon says the United States will continue to strongly

02:19support Ukraine's fight for freedom. Carla Babb, VOA News, the Pentagon.