Ukraine touts huge gains in Kursk region as it takes war back to Russia

A Ukrainian soldier raises a Ukrainian flag in Guevo, Kursk Oblast, Russia released August 11, 2024 in this still image obtained from a social media video. Donbas_Operativnyi via Telegram/via REUTERS

(Reuters) -Ukraine said on Monday its biggest cross-border assault of the war had captured 1,000 square kilometres (386 square miles) of Russia's Kursk region and that Russian President Vladimir Putin would have to be forced into making peace.

With Russia still struggling to repel the surprise assault a week after it began, Ukraine's top commander Oleksandr Syrskyi briefed President Volodymyr Zelenskiy by video link and said the advance into Russian territory was ongoing.