Before Ukraine launched its cross-border incursion last month, Russia was planning to invade Ukraine from the Kursk region, Ukraine’s top military commander, Col. Gen. Oleksandr Serskyi, said in an interview broadcast on Sept. 5. That followed Russian President Vladimir Putin’s claim that the infiltration had failed. It did not affect Moscow’s special military operation.

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Sirski said In an interview with CNN, he said he considered the operation in Kursk a success because it reduced the risk of an enemy attack.

“We stopped them from taking action. We moved the fight into enemy territory so they could feel what we feel every day,” he said.

According to Sarsky, Moscow has moved tens of thousands of troops into the Kursk region, including some of its best air assault units.

Sarskyi also acknowledged that Ukraine is under significant pressure in the Pokrosk region, but said that Ukrainian forces have so far been able to hold back Russian advances there.

“During the past six days, the enemy has not advanced a single meter in the Pokrosk region. In other words, our strategy is working,” he said.

The ability of Russian forces to send and deploy reinforcements from other directions is limited and “this weakness is undoubtedly being felt in other areas,” Sarsky said.

In recent weeks, the frontline in the Donetsk region has moved closer to the strategically important city of Pokrosk, which was deep behind the frontline in the first two years of the full-scale war.

Since its surprise incursion into Kursk, Kiev has claimed control of more than 1,200 square kilometers of Russian territory, while Russian forces have stepped up their efforts to capture Pokrovsk.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi said in an interview with American broadcaster NBC this week that the incursion was aimed at gaining Russian territory and troops for future exchanges, stressing that Ukraine considers Russian territory to be a part of the country. There is no need.

“The goal of our operation is to restore our territorial integrity. We capture Russian troops to replace them with Ukrainian ones. [ones]”We tell them, you know, we need our troops to replace Russian troops. That’s the attitude with the territories. We don’t need their land,” he said.

Speaking at the Eastern Eurasian Forum in the Russian Far Eastern city of Vladivostok on September 5, Putin claimed that by sending troops into the Kursk region, Ukraine had weakened its forces in its eastern Donbass region.

“The enemy’s goal was to scare us, to panic, to move our troops from one place to another, and to stop our aggression in important directions, first of all in Donbas,” Putin said. “Did the enemy manage to do that? No, he didn’t.”

Putin claimed that Russia’s forces “stabilized the situation and began to gradually push the enemy from the areas along the border.” Putin said the move left Ukraine without the means to “control our aggression” in eastern Ukraine.

“On the contrary, by sending their fairly large and well-trained units to the border districts, the enemy has weakened itself on key fronts, while our troops have intensified their offensive operations,” he said.

Putin previously called the Ukraine incursion a “provocation” and publicly said it left Russia with no reason to negotiate with Kiev. He backtracked on that stance on September 5, saying “we have never ruled out negotiations.” However, he said in Vladivostok that any peace talks must take into account Moscow’s long-standing position — that parts of Ukraine held by Russian troops must remain under Moscow’s control. Kiev has rejected these terms.

Putin also hinted at Vladivostok that Kiev should take future losses into account when discussing possible negotiations.

“Sometimes I feel that the people who are leading Ukraine now are strangers or some kind of foreigners. In fact, they just don’t think, and I’m serious about that. You know, [they have] Such heavy losses. What more they can do, I don’t understand,” Putin said.

Putin’s comments came as Russian forces hit Ukraine’s capital Kiev with more drone strikes overnight. The Ukrainian military said several other areas, including northern Chernihiv and northeastern Sumy regions, were targeted by Russian drones.

In Sami region, the government extended the mandatory evacuation of five towns in two districts.

Governor of Sumy, Vladimir Artykh Discussed Evacuation measures during a meeting in Glokhio, one of the areas where shelling has intensified.

In view of the destruction of infrastructure and houses, regional authorities decided to expand the list of settlements for mandatory evacuation, he said. The order now includes Glukhiv, Esman, and Svesa in Shostakinsky district and Manokhioka and Ivanyoka in Konotopsky district.

With current time and reporting from RFE/RL’s Ukraine service