Russia moved extra tanks, artillery and rocket systems to its southern Kursk region on Friday as it battled for the fourth straight day to end a shock incursion by Ukrainian forces.
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00:00Magumi Lim. Magumi, what has Ukraine said about its cross-border raid into Russia?
00:07Well, as you mentioned earlier, this Kursk incursion and the fighting there has gone
00:13on for four days now, but Ukraine has maintained a policy of silence regarding this incursion.
00:21We have not heard any official comments from the Ukrainian side, but President Zelensky
00:26in his nightly video address yesterday seemed to have made a possible reference to this
00:32fighting in the Kursk region. He said, Russia brought war to our land and it should feel
00:37what it has done, implying that Russia is now getting a taste of its own medicine, but
00:42he didn't directly mention Kursk in his video address. Now, on the other hand, a Ukrainian
00:49state project called Honshu Hoju 90, which is a state project that offers and provides
00:54information about Russian prisoners of war to Russian families, did make a comment saying
00:59that many Russian soldiers were captured as a result of this Kursk incursion, and this
01:04may be the closest thing to an official acknowledgement of what's been taking place in the Kursk region.
01:10Now, the precise objective of this incursion remains unclear. It does look like it was
01:16designed to bring the war home to Russia, where a majority of Russians have not felt
01:22the direct impact of the ongoing conflict, where millions of Ukrainians, on the other
01:27hand, have been displaced as a result of the ongoing war, and hundreds of villages and
01:33settlements have also been destroyed. Now, this incursion also appears to be some sort
01:38of diversion, where Ukrainian troops were hoping to divert Russian resources and troops
01:44away from the eastern front lines, especially in Ukraine's eastern Donetsk region, where
01:50Russian forces have been making steady gains, especially over the past few weeks. They are
01:55getting closer and closer to very strategically important cities in the east. Now, whether
02:00or not this strategy will be effective or has been effective is unclear. Analysts have
02:06said because Ukrainian troops remain severely outnumbered on the battlefield, to divert
02:13precious Ukrainian manpower to a different part of the front line, essentially opening
02:17up a new war front, may not be the most effective. But analysts have suggested that by mounting
02:23this assault into the Kursk region, Kiev may be trying to gain some sort of leverage just
02:30in case future negotiations do take place with the Kremlin.
02:35And in terms of attacks in Ukraine, a Russian attack has hit a supermarket in the Donetsk
02:40region. What can you tell us about that?
02:45That's right. A devastating attack against the city of Kostiantynivka today in Ukraine's
02:51eastern Donetsk region. According to regional authorities, a Russian Kh-38 air-to-surface
02:58missile struck a supermarket, killing about a dozen people. A postal depot there owned
03:05by Ukraine's largest private courier company was also severely damaged. And the death toll
03:11has been going up since the attack took place earlier today. Right now, the death toll is
03:16at least 11 people killed and at least 37 people injured. But there is still rescue
03:22operations going on. People may still be stuck, trapped under the rubble. And so the number
03:28of casualties may rise as rescue work continue. Now, President Zelensky did condemn today's
03:35attack. He said Russia will be held responsible for this terror. Now, city-side Kostiantynivka
03:41has been coming under regular air attacks because of its proximity to the front lines.
03:47Kostiantynivka is located only 13 kilometres where active combat is taking place. And as
03:53Russian forces continue to advance and ease, we're expecting more and more of these attacks
03:57to take place in the future.
03:59Megumi Lim reporting for us live from Kyiv. Many thanks.