Ukraine gambled on an incursion deep into Russian territory. The bold move changed the battlefield

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine's stunning incursion into Russia’s Kursk border region was a bold gamble for the country's military commanders, who committed their limited resources to a risky assault on a nuclear-armed enemy with no assurance of success.

After the first signs of progress, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy broke his silence and spelled out Kyiv’s daily advances to his war-weary public. By Wednesday, Ukrainian officials said they controlled 1,000 square kilometers (386 square miles) of enemy territory, including at least 74 settlements and hundreds of Russian prisoners of war.

But a week after it began, the overall aim of the daring operation is still unclear: Will Ukraine dig in and keep the conquered territory, advance further into Russian territory or pull back?

What is clear is that the incursion has changed the battlefield. The shock of Ukraine’s thunder run revealed chinks in the armor of its powerful adversary. The attack also risked aggravating Ukraine’s own weaknesses by extending the front line and committing new troops at a time when military leaders are short on manpower.

To conduct the Kursk operation, Kyiv deployed battalions drawn from multiple brigades, some of which were pulled from the hottest parts of the front line, where Russia’s advance has continued unabated. So far, Moscow’s overall strategic advantage is intact.

“The stretching of the front line for us is also stretching the front line for the enemy," said the commander of the 14th Regiment of Unmanned Aviation Systems, who participated in the opening stage of the offensive. “Only we have prepared for this operation in detail. The Russians were not prepared for this operation at all.”

He spoke on condition of anonymity, using only the call sign Charlie, in keeping with the rules of the Ukrainian military.

As the offensive enters its second week, Ukrainian forces are pushing out in several directions from the Russian town of Sudzha.

Images from the battlefield showing columns of destroyed Russian weaponry are reminiscent of Ukraine’s successful counteroffensives in 2022 in Kherson and Kharkiv. The photos are also a boon to national morale that deflated after the failed 2023 summer counteroffensive and months of recent territorial losses in the east.

But some analysts are reserving judgment on whether the Kursk region is the right theater to launch an offensive. Estimates of the number of troops operating there range from 5,000 to 12,000.

Within a week, Ukraine claimed to have captured almost as much Russian land in Kursk as Russian forces took in Ukraine in the last seven months, according to the Institute for the Study of War, a Washington-based think tank.

Russian authorities acknowledged the Ukrainian gains but described them as smaller. Even so, they have evacuated about 132,000 people.

Hundreds of Russian prisoners were blindfolded and ferried away in trucks in the opening moments of the lightning advance. They could be used in future prisoner swaps to free thousands of Ukrainian soldiers and civilians in captivity.

On Wednesday, Ukrainian human rights ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets said the fighting in Kursk led his Russian counterpart, Tatyana Moskalkova, to initiate a conversation about prisoner swaps, the first time such a request has come from Moscow.

Politically, the incursion turned the tables on Russia and reset the terms of a conflict in which Ukraine increasingly seemed doomed to accept unfavorable cease-fire terms. The strike was also a powerful example of Ukrainian determination and a message to Western allies that have dithered on allowing donated weapons to be used for deeper strikes inside Russian territory.

The assault has shown that the fear of crossing Russian “red lines” that could lead to nuclear escalation "is a myth, and that Ukraine’s battle-hardened military remains a formidable force,” wrote Taras Kuzio, a professor of political science at the National University Kyiv-Mohyla Academy.

Presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak suggested that the incursion may also strengthen Kyiv’s hand in future negotiations with Russia. Occupying part of Russian territory ahead of any cease-fire talks may give Ukraine some leverage.

Though the fighting continues, the territory currently under Ukrainian control is, by itself, of little economic or strategic value.

“There is some important gas infrastructure in the area, but its usefulness is likely to be limited other than as a minor bargaining chip. Ukrainians have also cut a railway line running from Lgov to Belgorod,” said Pasi Paroinen of the Black Bird Group, a Finland-based open-source intelligence agency that monitors the war.

Major military bases are far from the current area of operations, and Ukrainian advances are expected to slow as Russia sends in more forces.

Ukrainian officials have said they do not intend to occupy Kursk, but they may seek to create a buffer zone to protect settlements in the bordering Sumy region from relentless Russian artillery attacks and to block supply lines to the northeast.

Forcing Russia to deploy reserves intended for other parts of the 1,000-kilometer (620-mile) front line was the minimum aim, said Charlie, the commander. But so far, Moscow’s focus in the Donetsk region has not changed.

Some Ukrainian troops were pulled from those very lines, where manpower shortages were a key factor that contributed to territorial losses this year.

In the strategically significant Pokrovsk area, which is the main thrust of Russia’s offensive effort, soldiers have seen few improvements since the Kursk incursion.

“Nothing has changed,” said a soldier known by the call sign Kyianyn, who also spoke on condition of anonymity due to military protocol. “If anything, I see the increase in Russian offensive actions.”

But the Kursk operation "showed they can’t defend their own territory,” he said. “All of us are inspired here. Many of our soldiers wanted to go to Kursk and push them straight to the Kremlin.”

Targeting Russia’s Northern Grouping of Forces, which feeds the Kharkiv front, is a key goal, said Konstantin Mashovets, a Ukrainian military expert. Some Russian units have reportedly moved from Vovchansk in Kharkiv.

In the south, a small number of Russian units were redeployed from the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions, said Dmytro Lykhovii, the spokesman of the Tavria operational group. But that hasn’t affected Russian attacks.

"We even see an increase in (Russian) activity,” Lykhovii said.

The Kursk operation has also served to draw attention away from the eastern front, where tens of thousands of Ukrainians have been killed and wounded, and where the Ukrainian military has struggled to repair cracks in its defenses.

Most territorial losses in June and July were recorded in the Pokrovsk area, which is near a logistics hub, with fighting intensifying near the towns of Toretsk and Chasiv Yar.

Russian forces dialed up those attacks to capitalize on troop fatigue and shortages. On many occasions, the losses were the result of poorly timed troop rotations and blunders that cast doubt about the overall strategy of the Ukrainian military's General Staff.

“There is no way Russia will stop its actions in the parts of the front line where they are tactically succeeding,” Mashovets said. “There, they will push and squeeze until their last man is standing, no matter what." But the push into Kursk might force the Kremlin to pull reserves "from the parts of the front line that are of secondary importance.”

Associated Press journalist Volodymyr Yurchuk contributed to this report.

This story corrects name to 14th Regiment of Unmanned Aviation Systems instead of 14th Regiment of Unmanned Drones.

A Ukrainian serviceman holds a flag for his fallen comrade in front of a burned vehicle near Russian-Ukrainian border, Sumy region, Ukraine, Wednesday, Aug. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)

A Ukrainian armoured military vehicle travels past a burned car near the Russian-Ukrainian border, Sumy region, Ukraine, Wednesday, Aug. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)

This image released by Maxar Technologies shows a trench from Selektsionnyi to Lgov, Russia, Monday Aug. 12, 2024. (Satellite image ©2024 Maxar Technologies via AP)

This image released by Maxar Technologies shows a trenchline southeast of Selektsionnyi, Russia, Monday Aug. 12, 2024. (Satellite image ©2024 Maxar Technologies via AP)

Serhii Zaichenko, 63, school guard walks in the corridor of his school which was heavily damaged after Russian airstrike in Mohrytsia, near Russian-Ukrainian border, Sumy region, Ukraine, Wednesday, Aug. 14, 2024. Zaichenko said two people were killed, including one child. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)

Serhii Zaichenko, 63, school guard shows his school which was heavily damaged after Russian airstrike in Mohrytsia, near Russian-Ukrainian border, Sumy region, Ukraine, Wednesday, Aug. 14, 2024. Zaichenko said two people were killed, including one child. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)

Ukrainian servicemen ride atop on armoured vehicle at the Russian-Ukrainian border in Sumy region, Ukraine, Wednesday, Aug. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)

This image released by Maxar Technologies shows a trench being built southeast of Lgov, west of Kursk, Russia, Monday Aug. 12, 2024. (Satellite image ©2024 Maxar Technologies via AP)

A Ukrainian armoured military vehicle travels past a burned car near the Russian-Ukrainian border, Sumy region, Ukraine, Wednesday, Aug. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)

This image released by Maxar Technologies shows defensive trenches that have been built near Lgov and parallel to the E38 highway, west of Kursk, Russia, Monday Aug. 12, 2024. (Satellite image ©2024 Maxar Technologies via AP)

A Ukrainian tank passes by a burning car near the Russian-Ukrainian border, Sumy region, Ukraine, Wednesday, Aug. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)

An elderly woman walks along the road near the Russian-Ukrainian border, Sumy region, Ukraine, Wednesday, Aug. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)

A Ukrainian armoured military vehicle travels near the Russian-Ukrainian border, Sumy region, Ukraine, Wednesday, Aug. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)

Israeli strikes on Palestinian territories have killed more than two-dozen Palestinians on Wednesday, according to local officials. They say an Israeli airstrike killed five Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, and at least 20 people, including 16 women and children, were killed in the Gaza Strip.

Gaza’s Health Ministry says Tuesday's strike on a tent camp in an Israeli-designated humanitarian zone killed at least 19 people.

The Health Ministry says over 40,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since the Israel-Hamas war began. It does not differentiate between fighters and civilians in its count. The war has caused vast destruction and displaced around 90% of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million, often multiple times.

Hamas-led militants killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, in their Oct. 7 attack that sparked the war. They abducted another 250 and are still holding around 100. Around a third of them are believed to be dead.

Here's the latest:

JERUSALEM — A fuel tanker crashed into a bus stop in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, seriously injuring one person in what Israeli officials said was an attack.

The Israeli military said the driver was “neutralized” at the scene after the incident on Wednesday. It did not immediately identify the driver or provide evidence that the crash was an attack.

The Magen David Adom rescue service said it was treating the man who was injured, saying he is in critical condition.

Palestinians have carried out a number of stabbing, shooting and car-ramming attacks against Israelis in recent years. The army carries out near-daily raids into Palestinian communities in the West Bank that it says are aimed at dismantling militant groups and preventing attacks.

The violence has escalated since Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack ignited the war in Gaza.

RAMALLAH, West Bank — The Palestinian Health Ministry in the West Bank says an ongoing polio vaccination campaign in the Gaza Strip has reached 82.5% of targeted children.

The ministry said on Wednesday that 527,776 children under the age of 10 have received the first dose of the vaccine across the war-ravaged enclave.

The campaign began earlier this month after the detection of the first confirmed polio case in Gaza in 25 years. It aims at vaccinating about 640,000 children there.

Israel agreed to limited humanitarian pauses to facilitate the campaign, according to the World Health Organization, and there have been no major disruptions from the ongoing war.

The Palestinian Health Ministry in the Israeli-occupied West Bank is part of the Palestinian Authority, whose forces were driven out of Gaza when Hamas seized power there in 2007 and set up its own government.

The two Palestinian health ministries coordinate with one another and exchange information.

TEL AVIV, Israel — The Israeli military says two Israeli soldiers died and seven were injured when their helicopter crashed in the southern Gaza Strip.

The military said Wednesday that the overnight helicopter crash was not the result of enemy fire and is under investigation. The helicopter was on a mission to evacuate wounded soldiers from Gaza for treatment in Israeli hospitals.

There have been 340 Israeli soldiers killed since the ground operation began in Gaza in late October, at least 50 of whom have been killed in accidents within Gaza — not as a result of combat with Palestinian militants, according to the military.

JERUSALEM — An Israeli official says dozens of Palestinian patients were expected to leave the Gaza Strip on Wednesday by way of an Israeli crossing, in order to travel to the United Arab Emirates for medical care.

The official says over 200 people, mostly children, are expected to leave, along with relatives to accompany them. It is the biggest exit of medical patients through Israel since the war erupted nearly a year ago.

Gaza has been completely sealed off since May, when Israeli forces captured the Gaza side of the border with Egypt, including the Rafah crossing between Egypt and the coastal strip, leading to its closure. Rafah had been the only entry or exit point for Palestinians, including medical patients, since the start of the war.

Since then, Israel has only allowed a small number of children and accompanying relatives to leave for medical treatment.

Israel’s military offensive, launched in response to Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack, has gutted Gaza’s already fragile health system. With few exceptions, Israel has barred Gaza’s Palestinians from entering Israel throughout the war.

The official says the patients are leaving through the Kerem Shalom crossing and heading to the Ramon airport in southern Israel, where they will board a flight to the UAE.

The official spoke on condition of anonymity pending a formal announcement by Israeli authorities.

— By Josef Federman in Jerusalem;

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — Hamas released the first public statement from Yahya Sinwar since he was appointed its overall leader in August.

In the written statement late Tuesday, Sinwar congratulated Algeria’s President Abdelmadjid Tebboune on his reelection and thanked the country for its support for the Palestinian cause. Algeria, the Arab representative on the United Nations Security Council, circulated a draft resolution in May demanding an immediate cease-fire in Gaza and a halt to Israel’s military operation in the southern city of Rafah.

A hard-liner within Hamas, Sinwar would have to approve any potential agreement for a cease-fire and hostage release. The United States, Qatar and Egypt have spent most of the year trying to broker such a deal but the negotiations have repeatedly stalled.

Sinwar was one of the architects of the Oct. 7 attack into Israel that ignited the war in Gaza. He has not been seen since the start of the war and is believed to be alive and hiding inside the territory. Israel has vowed to kill him.

RAMALLAH, West Bank — An Israeli airstrike has killed five Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, Palestinian officials say.

The Israeli military said it targeted a group of militants in the northern city of Tubas early Wednesday.

The Palestinian Health Ministry in the West Bank confirmed the toll but does not say whether those killed by Israeli fire are militants or civilians.

Israel has stepped up its military raids across the territory in recent weeks and says it is working to dismantle militant groups and prevent attacks. Palestinians say such operations are aimed at cementing Israel’s seemingly open-ended military rule over the territory.

Israel captured the West Bank, along with east Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip, in the 1967 Mideast war. The Palestinians want all three territories for their future state. The West Bank has seen a surge in violence since Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack out of Gaza ignited the war there.

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — Palestinian officials say Israeli airstrikes in the Gaza Strip have killed at least 20 people, including 16 women and children.

An airstrike early Wednesday killed 11 people, including six siblings ranging from 21 months to 21 years old, according to the European Hospital, which received the casualties. The dead from the strike near the southern city of Khan Younis included three other women, a child and a man, according to the hospital.

A strike late Tuesday on a home in the urban Jabaliya refugee camp in northern Gaza killed nine people, including six women and children, according to the Gaza Health Ministry and the Civil Defense first responders. The Civil Defense says the home belonged to Akram al-Najjar, a professor at the al-Quds Open University, who survived the strike.

Israel says it only targets militants, claiming 17,000 militant deaths without providing evidence. It blames civilian deaths on Hamas because its fighters are embedded in dense residential neighborhoods. The military rarely comments on individual strikes, which often kill women and children.

The Health Ministry says Israel’s offensive, launched in response to Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack, has killed at least 41,020 Palestinians in Gaza and wounded nearly 95,000. It does not distinguish between fighters and civilians but says more than half of those killed were women and children.

Hamas-led militants killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, on Oct. 7 and abducted around 250. Around 100 hostages are still held in Gaza, about a third of whom are believed to be dead.

Blindfolded and bounded protesters take part in a protest against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government and call for the release of hostages held in the Gaza Strip by the Hamas militant group in Tel Aviv, Israel, Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)

This undated photo released by the Israel Defense Forces shows the Gaza tunnel where it says six Israeli hostages were recently killed by Hamas militants. (Israeli Army via AP)

Mourners pray over the covered bodies of Palestinians who were killed in an Israeli airstrike on a crowded tent camp housing Palestinians displaced by the war in the Muwasi, outside the hospital morgue in Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip, Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Palestinians look at the destruction after an Israeli airstrike on a crowded tent camp housing Palestinians displaced by the war in Muwasi, Gaza Strip, Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2024. An Israeli strike killed at least 40 people and wounded 60 others early Tuesday, Palestinian officials said. Israel said it targeted "significant" Hamas militants, allegations denied by the militant group. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Palestinians look at the destruction after an Israeli airstrike on a crowded tent camp housing Palestinians displaced by the war in Muwasi, Gaza Strip, Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2024. An Israeli strike killed at least 40 people and wounded 60 others early Tuesday, Palestinian officials said. Israel said it targeted "significant" Hamas militants, allegations denied by the militant group. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Mourners carry the covered bodies of Palestinians who were killed in an Israeli airstrike on a crowded tent camp housing Palestinians displaced by the war in the Muwasi, outside the hospital morgue in Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip, Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)