President Volodymyr Zelenskyj says that Ukrainian troops have taken the Russian city of Sudzha in the Kursk region, according to AP.
The city, with over 5,000 inhabitants before the war, is the largest one that the Ukrainian army has taken control of on Russian soil. According to the Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyj on Telegram, a military administrative center has been established in the city.
Authorities in the Kursk region of Russia have decided to evacuate residents in the Glushkov district due to the Ukrainian ground offensive, according to Reuters.
The district, which borders Ukraine, has a population of 20,000 inhabitants, and a total of nearly 200,000 Russians have been evacuated in just over a week.
Russian Defense Minister Andrej Belousov says that they will send "extra forces" to the border at Belgorod, where a state of emergency was declared on Wednesday, reports AFP.
The UN Office for Human Rights reports to AFP on Thursday that they have sent a request to Moscow to visit the Russian border regions affected by the offensive.
The Ukrainian surprise offensive on Russian soil began at the beginning of last week. The country's forces are reported to have reached about three miles into Russia.
According to Ukraine's Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko, the country's intention is to establish a "buffer zone" in the region and prevent Russian attacks across the border.
