Ukraine's top commander says Kursk advance continues, but Pokrovsk front difficult
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Colonel general Oleksandr Syrskyi, Commander of the Ukrainian Ground Forces, attends an interview with Reuters, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kharkiv region, Ukraine January 12, 2024. REUTERS/Valentyn Ogirenko/File Photo
KYIV (Reuters) - Ukraine's top commander said on Tuesday that Kyiv's forces were still advancing in Russia's Kursk region, but warned that Moscow was building up its forces on the eastern Pokrovsk front, where Russian troops have been advancing.
General Oleksandr Syrskyi said by video link in remarks broadcast on television that Russia was trying to disrupt Ukraine's supply lines to the front near Pokrovsk, a coal mining city that has strategic military value as a transport hub.
"The situation on the Pokrovsk front is fairly difficult ... the enemy is using its advantage in personnel, weapons and military equipment, it is actively using artillery and aviation," he said.
Ukraine's three-week-old thrust into Russia's Kursk region has captured 100 settlements, he said.
Moscow's troops were trying to counterattack in the area and encircle Kyiv's forces, but those attempts were being repelled, he added.
He said that one of the objectives of the Kursk operation was to divert Russian forces from other areas, primarily the Pokrovsk and Kurakhove sectors.
"The Kursk operation diverted a significant number of its forces," he said, noting that Russian troops had been drawn from Ukraine's south.
"As of now, we can say that around 30,000 servicemen have been sent to the Kursk front and this figure is growing."
But he said Russia was strengthening its force on the Pokrovsk front.
Disclosing a number for the first time, Syrskyi said that Ukraine had captured 594 Russian servicemen during its operation in the Kursk region.
(Reporting by Olena Harmash and Pavel Polityuk; writing by Tom Balmforth; Editing by Kevin Liffey)
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