Politics Selenskyj: 74 localities in Russia under Kiev's control

According to President Volodymyr Zelensky, Ukrainian troops are continuing to advance on Russian territory. "Ukraine has 74 settlements under its control," Zelensky announced on his Telegram channel. The information cannot be independently verified. That would be more than double the number of settlements that Russia last stated. The acting Kursk governor, Alexei Smirnov, had spoken of 28 locations under Ukrainian control on Monday.

Zelenskyi said that he was constantly being informed about the situation by the Ukrainian commander-in-chief, Olexander Syrskyi. Checks and stabilization measures were now underway in the areas controlled by Ukraine. "Humanitarian solutions are being developed for these areas," said Zelenskyi. Kiev had previously emphasized that civilians should not be harmed.

"Despite difficult, intense fighting, the advance of our forces in the Kursk region continues," Selensky continued. More and more Russian soldiers are being taken prisoner in order to use them as bargaining chips for the next prisoner exchange with Russia. "I thank our soldiers for their heroic efforts," said Zelensky.

The president said that the next steps were being prepared. He did not give any details. He had previously said that Russia had brought the war to Ukraine and should now feel for itself what this meant. The aim was to achieve a just peace as quickly as possible. The Ukrainian leadership had recently made it clear that it wanted to use the areas in the Kursk region as a bargaining chip for peace negotiations. The aim is not to occupy the villages permanently.

The Ukrainian army has been attacking the Russian region of Kursk with a major ground offensive since August 6. The Ukrainian DeepState project has so far identified fewer villages than Selenskyi under Kiev's control - around 44 villages. Russian independent media reported about 30 villages.