Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Tuesday said his military has seized dozens of Russian settlements and towns spanning hundreds of kilometers in Russia’s Kursk oblast.

The surprise offensive is now one week in, and Zelensky boasted in an X post: “Ukraine controls 74 communities.” This is a significantly higher figure than the Kremlin has publicized, and there remain deeply contrasting accounts of what is going on in the war-ravaged border region, or whether Russian forces have yet repelled the invasion.

“Despite the difficult and intense battles, our forces continue to advance in the Kursk region,” Zelensky added, saying that many Russian border troops have been captured and can be used to eventually get Ukrainian POWs back.

Kiev says that the ultimate purpose of the high-risk operation is to protect its populace from Russian strikes, many of which happen from across the border. Currently, it is unclear the amount of territory the Ukraine invading force actually holds. By all accounts, Russian border posts were poorly manned and armed at the time of the attack which started Tuesday morning a week ago.

“Ukraine is not interested in taking the territory of the Kursk region, but we want to protect the lives of our people,” Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesman Heorhii Tykhyi has stated.

Things are still desperate on the Russian side amid a state of emergency in southern oblasts along the border. Well over 100,000 citizens have been evacuated.

“There is no light, no connection, no water. There is nothing. It’s as if everyone has flown to another planet, and you are left alone. And the birds stopped singing,” an elderly man identified as Mikhail told Russian state television on Tuesday. “Helicopters and planes fly over the yard and shells were flying. What could we do? We left everything behind.”

Acting Kursk Region Governor Aleksey Smirnov has announced that at least 12 Russian civilians have been killed and another 121 injured, including ten children, amid the ongoing Ukraine military incursion.

President Putin has meanwhile reportedly appointed a special official to take charge of efforts to restore order to Kursk and the border regions. He’s been identified in regional press as the president’s personal aide and former bodyguard Alexei Dyumin.

Alexander Dyumin, via Kremlin.ru

One report details: 

“Indeed, Alexei Gennadyevich Dyumin was summoned yesterday and tasked with supervising the counterterrorist operation,” State Duma lawmaker Nikolai Ivanov, whose district is in the Kursk region, told the RTVI broadcaster.

Dyumin was the only non-cabinet member not connected with the military or security services who was present at a televised meeting with Putin on Monday. During that meeting, which was focused on the fighting in the Kursk region, the Kremlin leader ordered the military to “dislodge” Ukraine’s forces from Russian territory.

Later, an anonymous Telegram channel claiming insider knowledge claimed that Putin directed Dyumin to “coordinate all agencies currently operating in the Kursk region.”

However, the Kremlin has not officially verified whether Dyumin has indeed been put in charge of Kursk operations.

At this moment a United Nations agency is trying to gain access to the region. The office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) has issued formal request for Moscow to grant access to the Kursk Region to investigate Russian allegations of abuses and war crimes committed by invading Ukrainian troops.

More dumb takes from hopelessly inept washed up politico. https://t.co/Zsz0f6t5VK

— Daniel McAdams (@DanielLMcAdams) August 13, 2024

“We are trying to gather information about the situation in Kursk Region, but without access it is very difficult,” OHCHR spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani said in a fresh statement. “We have requested access to Russia to be able to obtain additional information.”