More than two weeks have passed since the Ukrainian army launched a surprise incursion into Russia’s Kursk region. The Aug. 6 offensive marks the first time since World War II that foreign troops have occupied Russian territory.
According to DeepState UA, an open-source intelligence digital mapping service, the Ukrainian army has captured at least 646 square kilometers in the Kursk region.
Ukraine’s Commander-in-Chief, Oleksandr Syrskyi, claims that 93 settlements have come under Ukrainian control, the largest of which is Sudzha, a town with a pre-war population of about 5,000 people.
Founded in the late 17th century, Sudzha was originally a majority Ukrainian city within the Sloboda Ukraine region and served as the administrative capital of a Ukrainian Cossack unit. Over the centuries, as Ukraine came under Russian imperial and later Soviet control, the city alternated between Ukrainian and Russian rule.
Today, the town is the site of a key natural gas transit point on a pipeline bringing Russian gas to Europe via Ukraine.
Here is a look at photos from Sudzha following Ukraine’s capture of the town:
