Russian troops are “wiping" the Ukrainian-captured town of Sudzha in Russia's Kursk Oblast "off the face of the earth", Oleksandr Pavliuk, commander of Ukraine's Ground Forces, said on Aug. 31.
Russia is regularly shelling Sudzha and attacking it with guided aerial bombs and kamikaze drones, according to Pavliuk.
As Kyiv's incursion into Kursk Oblast enters its fourth week, Ukraine reportedly controls over 1,290 square kilometers (500 square miles) and 100 settlements, Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi said on Aug. 27.
The Kyiv Independent could not verify these claims.
"(Russian forces) are destroying their own people. Despite the fact that Sudzha is in the rear, the Russians are wiping it off the face of the earth," Pavliuk said.
About 200 residents remain in Sudzha, which had a population of 5,000 before the incursion, the general said. Most of them are elderly.
"According to the international humanitarian law, Ukrainian troops help (the residents of Suzha)," Pavliuk added.
Sudzha is located less than 10 kilometers (6 miles) from the border with Ukraine, while the city of Kursk lies 85 kilometers (53 miles) to the northeast of Sudzha.
Moscow has redeployed about 30,000 of its troops from other sectors to the Kursk direction, "and this number is growing," Syrskyi said on Aug. 27. At the same time, Russia deployed its most combat-ready units in the Pokrovsk sector, he added.
President Volodymyr Zelensky said that the ongoing Kursk incursion is one part of a plan for victory that he would present to U.S. President Joe Biden during a meeting in September.
Francis Farrell
