Ukrainian offensive

Ukrainians apparently capture major gas hub

Ukraine is said to have taken control of a large area.

(Bild: AFP/Roman PILIPEY)

Ukraine is pressing ahead with its offensive in the Russian border region. It attacked with drones and ground troops on Tuesday. Russia claims to have stopped the wave of attacks. There is confusion about a huge gas hub.

Russian war bloggers reported renewed fierce fighting in the Kursk region. According to the Ministry of Defense in Moscow, 14 drones were shot down. According to official information, a further 59,000 people were being evacuated to safety in Kursk, after 121,000 people had already left their apartments and houses. According to the local authorities, 11,000 civilians have also been evacuated in the neighboring Belgorod region.

The advance of Ukrainian troops into Russian territory began a week ago. It apparently caught Russia unprepared. Since then, the Ukrainian units claim to have conquered 1000 square kilometers of territory, which is more than the area of Berlin. According to Russian information, however, the area that Ukraine has taken under its control is not even half that size.

Russia claims to have stopped the advance
According to calculations by the AFP news agency, Ukraine had taken control of 800 square kilometers by Monday evening. The Russian army captured 69 square kilometers of Ukrainian territory in the same period.

According to the Russian armed forces, air strikes have halted the advance of Ukrainian troops in the Kursk region for the time being. Russian war bloggers reported intense fighting along the front line in the region on Tuesday. According to Ukrainian sources, Russia deployed soldiers and heavy weapons and was able to repel attacks.

Gas hub targeted?
The situation in the town of Sudzha, through which Russian gas is pumped through Ukraine to Slovakia, Austria and other EU countries, is unclear. Some Russian social media channels reported that the small town had fallen into the hands of Ukraine.

It is unclear which side controls the area. Gazprom announced on Tuesday that gas would continue to be pumped through Sudzha to Ukraine. The pipeline operator Gas Connect Austria saw no interruptions in natural gas supplies to Austria.

In 2023, around 14.65 billion cubic meters of gas were supplied via Sudscha. This corresponded to around half of Russian natural gas exports to Europe or around five percent of EU consumption.

Attack for Ukraine a question of security
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Selensky described the offensive by his troops across the border as a security measure. The areas conquered there so far are regions from which Russia's armed forces have repeatedly attacked the eastern Ukrainian region of Sumy. Around 2100 attacks have been registered there since the beginning of June alone.

Listen to Selensky's latest evening speech: 

"That's why our operations are purely a security issue for Ukraine, to free the border from the Russian military," Selenskyj said in his evening video address.

Symbolism also plays a major role
Kursk will become a symbol of the beginning and end of Russian President Vladimir Putin, said Zelenskyi, referring to the catastrophe of the sinking of the most modern Russian nuclear submarine "Kursk", which sank in August 2000 with 118 crew members on board. "24 years ago there was the Kursk disaster, which was the symbolic beginning of his reign; now we are seeing the end of it - and it is Kursk again."

Putin said the attack was aimed at improving Kiev's negotiating position ahead of possible talks and slowing the advance of Russian forces on the front line in Ukrainian territory. Kiev said on Tuesday afternoon that the offensive would end as soon as Moscow was ready for a "just peace".

The Russian foreign intelligence service accused Zelensky of "insane" measures, according to the Russian news agency RIA. Zelenskyi was risking an escalation far beyond Ukraine. Previously, the acting governor of the Kursk region had also reported territorial losses, whereupon he was publicly reprimanded by Putin. 

Putin interrupts the governor who is talking about territorial losses:

Zelenskyi puts pressure on West
The Russian military accused Ukraine of using heavy weapons supplied by the West in the battle for the Kursk region. In addition to artillery and rocket launchers, armored vehicles that Kiev had received from Western partners were also in use on the Ukrainian side. However, there are no restrictions on the use of these weapons by the Ukrainian armed forces from Western partners.

Tens of thousands of Russians had to leave their homes.

(Bild: AP)

Selensky once again emphasized the importance of the permission he is hoping for to use the long-range weapons supplied by the West against targets in Russia. "We need appropriate permits from our partners for the use of long-range weapons," Selensky emphasized. "It is only fair to destroy the Russian terrorists where they are, where they launch their attacks - Russian military airfields, Russian logistics."