Russian forces have taken control of the town of Sudzja in Kursk from several directions, according to multiple sources, and Russia's Defense Ministry says it has captured several locations around the town.
The Russian offensive has prompted President Vladimir Putin to visit Kursk, according to Russian state media, which showed TV footage of a uniform-clad Putin being informed about the advance.
I expect that all battles our units are facing will be carried out satisfactorily and that the Kursk region will soon be completely liberated from the enemy, Putin says in the televised segment.
430 Prisoners of War
Russian Army Chief Valerij Gerasimov says in a parallel statement that the army has captured 430 Ukrainian soldiers in Kursk.
Putin says, according to the state news agency Tass, that the prisoners of war will be "treated as terrorists according to the laws of the Russian Federation".
Sudzja is located half a mile northeast of the border with Ukraine, along a highway that has been an important supply route for Ukrainian forces since they broke into Russian Kursk in an unexpected offensive last summer.
The town is devastated and abandoned, but has still been seen as an important foothold for the Ukrainians. This is especially true now, as talks about a ceasefire are underway and both parties are eager to have as strong a bargaining chip as possible.
Attacks on Sumy Region
There has been speculation that Ukraine might exchange captured territory in Kursk for areas that Russia has taken in its invasion war in eastern Ukraine.
And the Ukrainian army is apparently still on the attack. On Wednesday, Russian authorities reported that four civilians were killed when a factory in Kozyrevka, further into Russia than Sudzja, was hit.
"Four employees were killed, three men and one woman," writes a regional official according to the AFP news agency.
The Ukrainian Kyiv Independent reports that Russian soldiers have also attempted to break into the neighboring Sumy region in Ukraine.
The Russians are carrying out dozens of direct attacks on Ukrainian positions in an attempt to force Ukrainian forces out of Kursk, says Andrij Demtjenko, spokesperson for Ukraine's border guard agency, to the newspaper.
