Kyiv opens military office in occupied Kursk region of Russia

Adviser to Zelensky says incursion required to force Moscow to start fair’ peace talks

- 

KYIV Ukraine's top commander said on Aug 15 that Kyiv had set up a military commandant's office in the occupied part of Russia's Kursk region where he said his forces were still advancing, even as Moscow's troops stepped up its offensives in Ukraine's east.

The remarks by Colonel-General Oleksandr Syrskyi were the strongest sign yet that Kyiv's forces plan to dig in after launching a lightning cross-border assault on Russia last week that has opened a new front in the 22-year-old all-out war.

"We are moving forwards in Kursk region. A military commandant's office has been created which must ensure order and also all the needs of the local population," Col-Gen Syrskyi said in a written statement on his Telegram channel. The office would be headed by Major-General Eduard Moskalyov, he said.

Kyiv's surge into Russian territory caught Moscow by surprise, seizing the initiative from the Kremlin's forces who have been grinding out small but steady gains all year in eastern Ukraine. Some 18 per cent of Ukraine is occupied by Russia.

Col-Gen Syrskyi told President Volodymyr Zelensky in a video published by the Ukrainian leader that the incursion had so far advanced 35km into the Kursk region, capturing 82 settlements and an area of 1,150 sq km.