Ukrainian Army Commander, Oleksandr Sersky, announced on Monday that Kiev controls about 1,000 square kilometers of the Russian Kursk region.

This is Syrsky's first comment on the sudden incursion of the Ukrainian army across the border, according to Reuters.

Preparing a “humanitarian plan”

For his part, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky published a video clip of Sersky presenting a report on the fighting.

Zelensky said: “We continue to carry out an offensive operation in the Kursk region. We currently control about a thousand square kilometers of the territory of the Russian Federation.”

While he added that the meeting of senior officials ordered the preparation of a “humanitarian plan” for the region.

He also added in a statement that the Ministry of Defense and diplomats had received orders to submit a list of “necessary measures” necessary to obtain permission from Kiev’s Western allies to use long-range weapons to launch strikes on Russia.

28 towns

It is noteworthy that earlier Monday, the acting governor of the Russian Kursk region, Alexei Smirnov, announced that Ukrainian forces had taken control of 28 towns in Kursk.

Smirnov informed the Russian President during the video meeting that the Ukrainian operation, which the Russian army has been trying to repel for 6 days, extends in an area 12 kilometers deep and 40 kilometers wide, according to Agence France-Presse.

12 civilians killed and thousands evacuated

He also added that at least 12 civilians were killed, while 121 others were injured, in the ongoing Ukrainian incursion since last week, saying that “the number of civilian deaths is 12, the number of wounded is 121, including 10 children.”

It was also revealed that about 121,000 people were evacuated from the border region with Ukraine due to the incursion of Kiev forces there.

He said: “As of today, 121,000 people have left or been evacuated” from Kursk.

It is noteworthy that after months of retreat on the Eastern Front, on August 6, Ukraine launched a massive and unprecedented incursion into the Russian border region of Kursk.