Ukraine’s high army commander, Colonel Common Oleksandr Syrskiy, stated on August 16 that Kyiv’s forces proceed to advance within the Kursk area.
“The troops of the offensive group proceed to combat, they’ve superior in some instructions from 1 to three kilometers towards the enemy. Usually, the state of affairs is beneath management. All measures are being carried out in keeping with the plan,” he stated in a briefing with President Volodymyr Zelenskiy over video hyperlink.
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Syrskiy reported combating within the space of Malaya Loknya, some 11.5 kilometers from Ukrainian border.
The claims couldn’t be independently verified.
Ukrainian forces additionally destroyed a key bridge within the Kursk area on August 16, pro-Kremlin media shops report. In line with Russian safety officers, the destruction of the bridge reduce off a part of a neighborhood district making it tougher for civilian evacuation out of the area.
Ukrainian troops launched the cross-border incursion on August 6 in an obvious try to divert the Russian army forces away from the entrance line. However Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy warned on August 15 that Pokrovsk and different close by cities within the Donetsk area of Ukraine have been “dealing with essentially the most intense Russian assaults.”
The Common Employees of the Ukrainian army, reporting on the state of affairs inside Ukraine, stated the variety of clashes on the entrance elevated to 75 as of 4 p.m. native time on August 15, and about one-third of them have been within the Pokrovsk space.
Russian forces made 23 makes an attempt to dislodge Ukrainian defenders from their positions within the space, the Common Employees stated, including that 17 have been repelled and 6 battles have been ongoing.
Along with Pokrovsk, the enemy attacked in 9 different areas, together with in Kharkiv, the Common Employees stated, noting that some battles there additionally have been ongoing.
Ukraine’s human rights commissioner, Dmytro Lubinets, informed RFE/RL’s Ukrainian Service on August 16 that Kyiv is not going to create particular camps for Russian civilians who need to evacuate amid an ongoing incursion in Russia’s Kursk and Belgorod areas.
The Ukrainian authorities stated its advance was meant to ascertain a “safety zone” inside Russia to place an finish to incessant strikes by the Russian army from the 2 areas bordering Ukraine focusing on civilian and infrastructure amenities.
Lubinets stated that he didn’t envisage any threats to the safety of the civilian inhabitants from the Russian area on the territory of Ukraine and that he thinks the variety of civilians keen to evacuate to Ukraine will likely be restricted.
“We don’t anticipate that there will likely be numerous individuals keen to come back to us, if any. However I’m undoubtedly not apprehensive about the truth that it is going to be harmful for the civilian inhabitants from Kursk area…. We’ve provided each resident of Kursk the choice to evacuate from this territory if they need,” Lubinets stated.
“Ukraine will open humanitarian corridors. Both to the territory managed by the Russian Federation, or to the territory of unbiased Ukraine. It ought to be the non-public selection of any citizen who’s presently there from among the many civilians. We’re undoubtedly not going to violate their rights.”
Lubinets has stated the Ukrainian army strictly adheres to the obligations stipulated by the Geneva and Hague Conventions.
Inside Minister Ihor Klymenko stated Ukraine has arrange storage amenities within the Sumy area for humanitarian help meant for Russian civilians.
He did not specify how most of the storage amenities had been arrange or the place they’re, however a video on the ministry’s Telegram account confirmed a big inflatable tent and Ukrainian army personnel carrying parcels and packing meals.
Throughout a visit to the Sumy area, which borders Russia’s Kursk area, Klymenko stated about 150 meals parcels had been despatched to civilians within the space. Residents “deserted by Russia” are principally aged individuals, individuals with disabilities, and households with youngsters, he stated, including that they want meals, water, and medication.”
The method contrasts with the remedy that some Ukrainians who fled their houses stated they have been subjected to. They reported being pressured to endure “filtration” — Moscow’s alleged marketing campaign to catch and punish perceived enemies or others deemed someway unreliable from among the many battle’s refugees. There even have been accusations that Ukrainians ensnared within the occupation forces’ vetting have been killed, “disappeared,” or forcibly deported to Siberia and different Russian locations.
Moscow has denied committing atrocities and routinely blames Ukrainian forces for civilian deaths and different abuses in a battle that Russian censorship prohibits from being described as a “battle” in any respect.
On August 15, Russian presidential aide and Safety Council head Nikolai Patrushev informed the Izvestia newspaper that the Ukrainian incursion into Russia’s western Kursk area launched on August 6 was “deliberate with the assistance of NATO and Western particular providers,” repeating a declare made by quite a few Russian officers in current days.
Patrushev stated assertions by america and different Western nations that they weren’t concerned “will not be true.”
In a response to the occasions in Kursk and Belgorod areas, the supreme commander of NATO forces in Europe, U.S. Common Christopher Cavoli, stated Russia’s response to the Ukrainian advance into its territory had thus far been sluggish and messy.
“Russia continues to be making an attempt to tug collectively a response to Ukraine’s incursion. Thus far, it has solely been a relatively gradual and scattered response. That is partly as a result of Russia hasn’t established who has the authority. The Ministry of Protection is liable for army actions inside Ukraine, however not inside Russia, proper? So, it ought to be the Ministry of Inner Affairs,” Cavoli stated at an occasion on the Council on International Relations on August 15.