Putin orders army to 'dislodge' Ukrainians

MOSCOW:

President Vladimir Putin ordered his army on Monday to "dislodge" Ukrainian troops who have entered Russian territory as authorities said over 120,000 people had been evacuated away from the fighting.

Kyiv launched a surprise offensive into Russia's western Kursk region last Tuesday, capturing over two dozen settlements in the most significant cross-border attack on Russian soil since World War II.

The president said that Ukraine's biggest attack was aimed at improving Kyiv's negotiating position ahead of possible peace talks and at slowing the advance of Russian forces.

Putin, in his most detailed public remarks on the incursion to date, said Ukraine "with the help of its Western masters" was trying to improve its position ahead of possible talks. He questioned what negotiations there could be with an enemy he accused of firing indiscriminately at Russian civilians and nuclear facilities.

"The main task, of course, is for the defence ministry to squeeze out, to knock out the enemy from our territories," Putin said, adding that Russian forces were accelerating their advance along the rest of the 1000-km (620-mile) main front. "The enemy will certainly receive a worthy response."

He also said he expected further Ukrainian attempts to destabilise Russia's Western border. Russian officials say Ukraine is trying to show its Western backers that it can still muster major military operations just as pressure mounts on both Kyiv and Moscow to agree to talk about halting the war.

One Russian source with knowledge of official thinking said that by attacking Russia, Ukraine was emboldening hardliners who were arguing that any ceasefire talks were a waste of time and that Russia should push much further into Ukraine.