Ukraine-Russia war latest: Ukraine 'takes 100 prisoners of war' inside captured region - and 'launches major attack on Russian airfields' (2024)

In our 19.36 post, we told you Ukrainian officials had reported a ballistic missile attack in Odesa.

Now, the regional prosecutors have issued an update on the situation, saying two people have been injured.

Writing on Telegram, the city's prosecutor office said a 39-year-old port worker and 43-year-old grain truck driver were wounded.

It said they "received injuries of varying degrees" and were being treated.

Earlier, local governor Oleg Kiper said port infrastructure in the southern Ukrainian region was targeted in the attack.

By Deborah Haynes, defence and security editor

A Ukrainian soldier holds up a Russian rifle taken from inside Russia.

"A trophy," he says, smiling.

One of his colleagues, also grinning, produces a military uniform patch that reads "Armed Forces of Russia" and a 10 rouble note.

"Russian money," he says.

The pair are part of a small team of soldiers on a grey pickup truck on the Ukrainian side of a border crossing point into the Kursk region of Russia.

A third serviceman, who gives his name as Vasil, says the unit has been fighting in Russia since the beginning of the cross-border attack from Sumy region, in northeastern Ukraine, nine days ago.

He says the Russian soldiers they had encountered were just "running away".

Asked what his group is planning to do next, he says, speaking in English: "[I] think go further [in], yes."

As for whether he is scared, he says: "No."

It is the same reply when asked whether he thinks Vladimir Putin's forces will succeed in pushing the Ukrainian attackers out.

"No," he says.

Speaking with the measured, matter-of-fact tone of an experienced soldier - he has been fighting Russia's invasion of his country since 2014 - Vasil says being part of the force invading Russia is "nothing special... I'm doing my job".

Without giving much away, he says his unit was involved in monitoring.

But the soldier does share one thing he hopes will come of the incursion - showing Russian people the reality of war.

"Maybe they [the Russians] will understand that war is not this very interesting thing where you sit at home and watch TV - war is war."

Fighting has continued in Russia's Kursk region today - more than a week after Ukraine launched their cross-border attack

Senior Kyiv officials have said Ukrainian forces were creating a "buffer zone" and planning to organise humanitarian assistance and evacuation corridors for civilians.

Residents were reportedly abandoned by Russian authorities, and some Ukrainian troops have been delivering aid to the region.

One woman said the Russians left without announcing an evacuation.

"They just packed up and left and so many people were left without means of subsistence" she added.

Russian forces have launched a ballistic missile on the city of Odesa, a Ukrainian official has said.

Port infrastructure in the southern Ukrainian region was targeted in the attack, the local governor said.

"One person, the driver of a grain truck, was injured. Currently, the victim is hospitalized in a moderate condition," Oleg Kiper said in a Telegram post.

Odesa has been the target of several attacks since Russia's invasion started in 2022.

It is Ukraine's third-largest city and, before the war, it was vital in the country's shipping system.

Ukraine's invasion of Russia's Kursk region is "very damaging" to Vladimir Putin, the former US permanent representative to NATO has told Sky News.

Kurt Volker said Mr Putin was claiming to be "Peter the Great" and he had ended up looking more like "Nicholas II", the last tsar of Russia.

"I think this is very damaging to Putin domestically," he said.

"I don't think they have found their footing yet as to how they want to deal with it."

Mr Volker said "this was a very different situation for Putin" and "people can see it".

"Putin was not fighting this war in Ukraine to lose," he added.

"He wasn't fighting halfway or holding back. He keeps saying he is going to escalate but if he could have escalated he would have already done so.

"This exposes he is not in a position to escalate. In fact, his forces are weaker than they appear.

"He is not capable of attacking Ukraine and defending Russia at the same time."

We reported earlier on comments made by Ukraine's top commander, who said 100 Russian prisoners of war had been captured today in Kursk (see post at 11.44am).

Oleksandr Syrskyi, who was shown giving the update to Volodymyr Zelenskyy via video link, said the capture of servicemen in Russia will "accelerate the return of our guys and girls home".

Ukraine's ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets has now said he has discussed the Russian prisoners taken with his Russian counterpart.

"I see that this situation at least forced the initiative from the Russian side," he told national TV.

Ukraine is believed to have captured more than 1,000 Russian soldiers since launching the invasion of the Kursk region.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy is appealing for allies to allow long-range strikes on targets inside Russia.

In his nightly address published on Telegram, Mr Zelenskyy appealed to partners to let Ukraine fire missiles deeper into Russian territory.

"The bolder the partners' decisions, the less Putin can do,"he said.

The Ukrainian leader has also hailed Ukraine's "good advance" in Russia's Kursk region, saying Kyiv was achieving its strategic goal.

Over the week we have been bringing you coverage on Ukraine's invasion of the Kursk border region.

Here is what we know at the moment:

• Ukrainian forces are pushing on with their major cross-border attack;
• Senior Kyiv officials said today Ukraine was creating a "buffer zone" in the Kursk region and plans to organise humanitarian assistance and evacuation corridors for civilians looking to go either to Russia or to Ukraine;
• Since the start of the day, assault troops had advanced two miles in some parts of Kursk, the commander of the Ukrainian military, Oleksandr Syrskyi, said;
• Also, Ukrainian troops took more than 100 Russian soldiers prisoner, he said;
• Ukraine's general staff added that troops deployed in Kursk destroyed a Russian Su-34 jet used to launch glide bombs at Ukrainian frontline positions and cities;
• A Ukrainian foreign ministry spokesman said yesterday that Kyiv had no intention of occupying the Russian territory it says it is holding.

Defence secretary John Healey has spoken to his US counterpart Lloyd Austin on the situation in Ukraine and the Middle East today.

In a statement on X, the minister said that as "Ukrainian forces continued their courageous fight against Russian aggression", the two countries "discussed the need to stand by Ukraine for as long as it takes, and deliver the vital equipment they need".

The meeting comes as Ukrainian forces push on with their major cross-border advance into Russia's Kursk region for a second week.

Two people have been killed after Russian drones attacked a medical battalion vehicle in Ukraine's northeastern Kharkiv region, the regional police have reported.

The drone attack killed two medics in the settlement of Bilyy Kolodiaz, Serhii Bolvinov, head of the investigative department of the National Police, said.

Three civilians in a nearby moving car were wounded in the attack, he added.

Russia denies deliberately targeting civilians, but thousands have been killed and wounded in its strikes during the invasion.