Kyev, 29 August 2024 (dpa/MIA) – The Ukrainian armed forces have taken further areas "near the border of Ukraine" during their invasion of the Russian region of Kursk, President Volodymyr Zelensky said in his daily video address on Wednesday.

Zelensky did not provide further details, but said that further Russian prisoners of war had been taken for a possible exchange.

"Thank you, warriors! This is something that will help bring home many of our people from Russian captivity," Zelensky said.

Ukrainian troops invaded Russia in a surprise incursion into the Kursk region on August 6.

Zelensky said the offensive helped prevent Russia from putting Ukrainian forces in the embattled eastern Donetsk region of Ukraine under even more pressure.

However, so far there has been no visible improvement for troops in Donetsk, with Western military observers attesting to progress made by Russian troops in the Pokrovsk district.

Zelensky also conceded that the situation in Donetsk was "extremely difficult."

"The key Russian efforts and their largest forces are concentrated there," he said.

Authorities have ordered the residents of Pokrovsk, a strategically important city that is home to a railway junction, to evacuate in view of the impending advance of Russian troops, but there are still 38,000 people left in the city, including 1,900 children.

Ukrainian drone attack sparks fire at fuel depot

A Ukrainian drone attack has sparked a fire at a fuel depot in the Kamensk district in southern Russia, the governor of the Rostov region, Vasily Golubev, reported on Wednesday.

There were no casualties, he said.

In the Rostov region, a large fuel depot in the town of Proletarsk has been burning for days following a drone attack.

Russia's Defence Ministry said 12 Ukrainian drones had been intercepted overnight - four over the Rostov region and eight over the Voronezh region in southern Russia. This military information could not be independently verified.

In the Voronezh region, residents of two villages had to temporarily leave their homes, according to the regional administration.

Airports shut down due to drone threat

Ukraine's drone attacks appear to be reaching further into Russia. Airports in Kazan and Nizhnekamsk, far to the east of Moscow, temporarily suspended flight operations, according to the Rosaviatsiya aviation authority. Media reports said the suspension was due to the danger posed by drones in the air.

Ukraine has been fending off a Russian invasion for two and a half years and with the increasing range of its combat drones, is also targeting locations far behind the front lines.