Ukrainians launched fresh drone strikes in Russia’s Kursk border region, a day after President Vladimir Putin lashed out at the West, saying the latter was backing Kiev’s surprise raid into Russian territory.

Russia’s Defence Ministry said its air defences had destroyed 12 drones over the Kursk region, which Ukraine attacked a week ago and claims to have captured 1,000 square kilometers of territory by Monday.

Ukraine has not published other details by sticking to Kiev’s strategy of silence regarding the invasion of the Russian region, from which many attacks against Ukraine have been launched in the past.

Hours earlier the acting governor of Kursk, Alexei Smirnov, estimated that Ukrainian forces had captured 28 settlements and penetrated 12 km deep and deployed 40 km wide in a major public admission of a humiliating development for Russia, nearly 30 months since the start of the invasion of Ukraine.

In the Kursk region, 121,000 people have already been evacuated and another 59,000 are being evacuated, local officials said. In Russia’s Belgorod region, which borders Kursk, 11,000 civilians have also been displaced, the region’s governor said.

Ukrainian forces in the Kursk region are trying to encircle Sunja, where Russian gas flows into Ukraine, while heavy fighting is taking place near Korenevo, about 22 kilometers from the border, as well as Martynovka, according to some military bloggers.

Putin claimed on Monday that the Ukrainian raid – the largest since Moscow launched its 2022 invasion of Ukraine – is aimed at improving Kiev’s negotiating position ahead of potential peace talks.

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