Security zone

Ukraine says it’s creating a "security zone" on Russian soil

From CNN's Victoria Butenko and Olga Voitovych  

Ukrainian Minister for Reintegration of Temporarily Occupied Territories Iryna Vereshchuk said that the operation in Russia’s Kursk region is designed to protect the border regions of Ukraine — primarily the border of the Sumy region, which has seen persistent Russian artillery and missile fire throughout the war.

Vereshchuk said Wednesday that “the Ukrainian Defense Forces are creating a security zone on the territory of the Russian Federation adjacent to the territory of Ukraine.” 

“There are Russian civilians within this zone. They are protected by international humanitarian law, which Ukraine fully complies with,” she said, so the Ukrainian military would “conduct humanitarian operations to support civilians within the mentioned zone” as well as open corridors for civilians to evacuate, either into Ukraine or within Russia.

A Ukrainian television report that aired Wednesday showed packages of food and water being distributed to Russian civilians in one neighborhood of the Kursk region that is now under Ukrainian control.