LIGHTNING RAID
Incredible video shows Ukraine’s storming invasion of Russia as they seize 400 square miles in just ONE WEEK
An animation shows how Ukraine troops quickly claimed land in all directions
INCREDIBLE video illustrates how Ukraine has captured a huge slice of Russian territory in a week-long rapid blitz.
It's taken Kyiv's troops just several days to claim 400 square miles of enemy soil as Vlad grapples with being the first Russian leader to surrender home turf since the Second World War.
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The animation shows Ukraine forces breaking over the border into Russia's Kursk region in the early hours of August 6 in a surprise move.
The advance then spills into the rival country in multiple directions, with troops speeding straight ahead in a sharp incision as others take wider territory to the northwest and southeast.
Ukraine's territory takeover then broadens out in all directions, leading to the huge 400,000 square mile coup in only seven days, according to the country's top commander.
Thousands of troops have piled in with beefed up convoys including tanks and aircraft.
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Commander Oleksandr Syrskyi claimed Ukraine now controlled the massive chunk of Russian territory as it continued to "conduct an offensive operation in the Kursk region".
He said: "The troops are fulfilling their tasks. Fighting continues along the entire front line. The situation is under our control."
President Volodomyr Zelensky on Monday night warned adversary Vladimir Putin that war was "coming home" to Russia.
He said: “Russia brought war to others, now it’s coming home.
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"Ukraine has always wanted only peace, and we will certainly ensure peace."
Tens of thousands of Kursk citizens were forced to evacuate last week with locals in the neighbouring Belgorod region now also given orders to leave.
‘Rattled’ Putin’s body language reveals deep fear over Ukraine invasion as he nervously twitches & rubs hands
As many as 130,000 Russians are now displaced.
Belgorod governor Vyacheslav Gladkov warned the entire region was under missile alert.
He told residents: "Go down to the basement and stay there until you receive the all-clear".
The warring nations traded air attacks overnight, with 14 Ukraine drones launched into the Kursk, Belgorod and Voronezh regions taken out by air defence, according to Russian media.
Kremlin forces fired 38 attack drones and two ballistic missiles into Ukraine, sending the entire country on air-raid alert as fighting intensifies.
On the ground, Zelensky's men tried to push further into Vlad's territory.
The Kursk town of Sudzha is expected to be hotly fought over given the flow of Russian gas that runs through it.
As much as half of Russian natural gas sent into Europe travelled through Sudzha in 2023, making up five per cent of EU consumption.
Russian war bloggers and Ukrainian telegram channels claimed it was under Kyiv's control, according to Reuters, although those assertions are yet to be verified.
Putin's illegal invasion in 2022 has led to the Kremlin currently controlling nearly a fifth of Ukrainian territory after two-and-a-half years of fighting.
Ukraine's surprise push into Russia has been widely seen as an attempt to divert fighting away from its own turf.
Vlad has speculated the surge was driven "with the help of Western masters” to gain leverage at the negotiating table for potential peace talks.
Why has Ukraine invaded Russia?
By Ellie Doughty
UKRAINE'S daring invasion into Russia has been launched for two key reasons - with one aimed at Putin and one at the West.
A high-ranking Ukrainian official told AFP that the idea behind the attack is to stretch Putin's armies as much as possible, spreading them thinly over different areas.
The security brass told AFP on condition of anonymity that "the aim is to stretch the positions of the enemy, to inflict maximum losses and to destabilise the situation in Russia as they are unable to protect their own border".
As well as acting as a huge morale-boosting win for Ukraine - the invasion also has a second key purpose in Kyiv's masterplan.
It is a message to allies in the West who have closely monitored Putin's war.
Military analyst Franz-Stefan Gady told The Washington Post: "This is definitely one consideration that it is really a signal to the West and to Ukrainian allies and partners that Ukraine is still capable of launching offensive operations.
"That Ukraine is capable of conducting fairly complex operations into enemy territory."
Vlad on the other hand claims Ukraine are simply trying to gain leverage for peace talk negotiations.
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Although Kremlin chiefs and state media are insisting Ukraine is losing masses of troops in what will be a botched invasion, reports from the ground aren't as glowing as Moscow might hope.
Speculation is swirling that Russian troops are even looting their own citizens' evacuated homes.
Footage posted to X purports to show soldiers searching through a Kursk home before complaining that it had already been ransacked.
Retired general Andrei Gurulev, a member of Putin’s United Russia party, hit out at the military for failing to stave off Ukraine's offensive, The Times reported.
He said: "Regrettably, the group of forces protecting the border didn’t have its own intelligence assets.
"No one likes to see the truth in reports, everybody just wants to hear that all is good."
According to state news agency RIA, the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service called Zelensky's attacking move "insane".
They claim the Ukrainian chief has sparked a threat of escalation that could expand beyond the two nations' conflict.
US senators Lindsey Graham and Richard Blumenthal meanwhile jetted into Kyiv to meet with Zelensky and praised the "bold and brilliant" move.
Graham said: "Taking this war to Putin and making him understand and pay a price is the right thing
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"So two-and-a-half years later you're still standing and you're in Russia. Remind me not to invade Ukraine.
"I'm so proud of you, your people, your military, your leadership, your country."
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