In this pool photograph distributed by Russian state owned agency Sputnik, Russia's President Vladimir Putin chairs a meeting regarding the situation in the Kursk region, in his residence in Novo-Ogaryovo outside Moscow, on August 12, 2024. (Photo by Gavriil GRIGOROV / POOL / AFP)
Moscow: President Vladimir Putin ordered his army on Monday to "dislodge" Ukrainian troops who have entered Russian territory as authorities said over 120,000 people had been evacuated away from the fighting.
Kyiv launched a surprise offensive into Russia's western Kursk region last Tuesday, capturing over two dozen settlements in the most significant cross-border attack on Russian soil since World War II.
Ukraine's military chief Oleksandr Syrsky told President Volodymyr Zelensky in a video posted Monday that his troops now control about 1,000 square kilometres of Russian territory and are continuing "offensive operations".
Putin told a televised meeting with government officials that "one of the obvious goals of the enemy is to sow discord" and "destroy the unity and cohesion of Russian society".
"The main task is, of course, for the defence ministry to dislodge the enemy from our territories," he said.
Zelensky told the nation in his evening address that the cross-border offensive was "purely a security issue", capturing "areas from which the Russia army struck at our Sumy region".
Some 121,000 people have fled the Kursk region since the start of the fighting, which has killed at least 12 civilians and injured 121 more, regional governor Alexei Smirnov told the meeting with Putin.
Authorities in Kursk announced on Monday they were widening their evacuation area to include a district with some 14,000 residents. The neighbouring Belgorod region also said it was evacuating a new border district.
Ukraine has pierced into the region by at least 12 kilometres (seven miles) and has captured 28 towns and villages, with the new front 40 kilometres long, Smirnov said.
But Syrsky said that "as of now, about 1,000 square kilometres of Russian territory are under control," suggesting the area captured is more than twice as large.
He said that fighting was ongoing along almost the whole front and "the situation is under our control".
Putin said Russia would respond by showing "unanimous support for all those in distress" and claimed there had been an increase in men signing up to fight.
"The enemy will receive a worthy riposte," he said.
