Putin praises pace of Russian conquests in Ukraine, scorns Kursk raid

DPA: Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday praised the speed with which his troops are occupying new territory in neighbouring Ukraine.

During an appearance in front of schoolchildren, he said that Ukraine's attempt to halt the advance of Russian troops in the Donbass with its counterattack in the Kursk region had been in vain.

"We are not talking about advancing 200 or 300 metres," Putin said, according to Russian news agencies. "We haven't had this kind of pace in the offensive in Donbass for a long time."

The Donetsk and Luhansk regions of eastern Ukraine are collectively known as the Donbass. Moscow unilaterally announced its annexation of the two regions in 2022 but does not have them fully under its control and there continues to be heavy fighting there.

Putin stopped off in the Siberian republic of Tuva on his way to Mongolia to give a lesson in a school subject introduced after the start of the war: "Conversations about the important things." The lessons, laden with propaganda, are intended to familiarize children with the Kremlin's political agenda.

Putin repeated the claim that the war he ordered against Ukraine was in defence of his own country.

"We are protecting both the people living in the Donbass and the future of Russia, because we cannot afford to have hostile structures created under our noses that are harbouring aggressive plans against our country," he said. Putin was apparently alluding to Kiev's hopes of joining NATO.

Putin called the Ukrainian soldiers involved in the counterattack on on Russian Kursk region "bandits" with whom Russia must settle accounts.

The Ukrainian troops still have the initiative in the Kursk region, partly because Russia has refrained from withdrawing soldiers from the main attack area in Donetsk to repel the invasion in Kursk.

Fresh Russian drone and missile attacks on Ukraine

Russia unleashed a powerful wave of drone and missile attacks on Ukraine, targeting Kiev, Sumy and Kharkiv, officials said on Monday morning.

Two people were injured in the capital Kiev, and the attacks caused damage in several neighbourhoods, Mayor Vitali Klitschko said on Telegram.

Several fires broke out in western Kiev, damaging houses and vehicles. The windows in a metro station were broken, though the metro is still operating, Klitschko wrote.

Kiev's military administration said the Russian army sent cruise missiles and drones to attack Kiev, firing the cruise missiles from Saratov, in the Russian Volga region.

The Ukrainian air defence said it shot down some 10 cruise missiles and drones over Kiev. The military estimates that in all, nine ballistic missiles, 13 cruise missiles and 20 drones were shot down nationwide.

Sumy, on the border with Russia, suffered worse damage than Kiev, with officials saying 18 were injured in Russian missile attacks, including six children.

Five tower blocks and an educational establishment were destroyed, the police said. Sumy is located opposite the Russian region of Kursk, where Ukrainian troops had advanced during their counteroffensive at the beginning of August.

There were also reports of shelling in other regions in Ukraine, with Kharkiv, near the border, also suffering further attacks.

A woman was injured by a drone strike during the night, Governor Oleh Synegubov said.

Meanwhile the city's industrial district came under fire in the early hours of the morning. A residential building and three other buildings in a garden area were burnt down, he said.