'Thousands' in Russia incursion

Thousands of Ukrainian troops are taking part in an incursion aimed at destabilizing Russia by showing up its weaknesses, a top Ukrainian security official said as the assault entered its sixth day.

"We are on the offensive. The aim is to stretch the positions of the enemy, inflict maximum losses and destabilize Russia as they are unable to protect their own border," he said, with the Russian army saying yesterday it had hit Ukrainian troops and equipment 30 kilometers from the border.

The Russian army had said about 1,000 Ukrainians were deployed in the cross-border incursion that began on Tuesday.

Asked about the 1,000 figure, the official said: "It is a lot more Thousands".

President Volodymyr Zelensky first acknowledged the offensive late on Saturday, saying Kyiv was "pushing the war into the aggressor's territory."

Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022 and has waged an unrelenting offensive, occupying swaths of eastern and southern Ukraine and subjecting Ukrainian cities to daily missile and drone attacks.

After recapturing large areas in 2022, Ukrainian forces have largely been on the backfoot and are increasingly struggling with manpower and arms supplies.

But Ukrainian units stormed across the border on Tuesday in what so far has been the largest and most successful such offensive by Kyiv in the conflict.

That has forced Russia to rush in reserves and extra equipment and evacuate tens of thousands of civilians. Kyiv too has evacuated thousands from Sumy region.

The operation has "greatly raised morale, the morale of the army, state and society," the Ukrainian official said after weeks of Russian advances in the east.

It "has shown that we can go on the offensive, move forward," the official said.

"The situation is basically unchanged. Their pressure in the east continues, they are not pulling back troops," he said, adding only that "the intensity of Russian attacks has gone down a little bit."

The official said Ukrainian troops would respect international humanitarian law while in Russian and had no plans to annex areas they hold.

"We are operating in strict accordance with international law," he said, contrasting this with alleged violations by Russian troops in occupied territory.

Asked whether capturing the Kursk nuclear power plant was an aim, he said: "We absolutely will not cause problems for nuclear security. This we can guarantee."

That came as a Russian barrage of four ballistic missiles and 57 Shahed drones on Kyiv killed two people, including a four-year-old boy. Air defenses shot down 53 of the drones.

In Kursk, a Ukrainian missile shot down by Russian air defenses fell on a residential building, wounding 13 people.AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, ASSOCIATED PRESS