Russian troops must continue to Odessa, Kharkiv, Dnipropetrovsk, Nikolaev (in Ukrainian Dnipro and Mikolaev - note ed.), Kiev and beyond, the deputy chairman of the Council for security of Russia and former president Dmitry Medvedev, quoted by Reuters and BTA.
Commenting on your channel in "Telegram" Ukraine's incursion into the Kursk region, Medvedev said that Moscow's operation should no longer be aimed only at securing territories that Moscow considers its own, and that Russia would stop advancing only when it deemed it profitable to do so.
"From this moment on, the Special Military Operation must acquire an openly extraterritorial character. This is no longer just an operation to regain our official territories and to punish the Nazis. It is possible and necessary to go to the lands of the still existing Ukraine. In Odessa, in Kharkiv, in Dnipropetrovsk, in Nikolaev. To Kiev and beyond", wrote Medvedev, quoted by TASS. "We will stop only when we consider it acceptable and profitable for us,", he added.
"A serious lesson must be learned from what happened and what the Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov promised to the Supreme Commander-in-Chief - to mercilessly defeat and destroy the enemy,'' urged the former president.
Meanwhile, the Russian Ministry of Defense reported 16 destroyed Ukrainian drones last night - 14 over Belgorod and two over Kursk region. In 24 hours, the Belgorod region was attacked by drones 86 times, 16 civilians were injured, the ministry also indicated.
Yesterday, the Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces, Gen. Valery Gerasimov, quoted by DPA, announced in a video conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin that up to 1,000 Ukrainian soldiers are involved in the massive attack on Russia's Kursk region, which began on August 6.
According to the Russian authorities, thousands of civilians have fled from the border villages that have fallen into the battle zone, and there have been killed and wounded. The governor of the Kursk region, Alexey Smirnov, announced a state of emergency in the region yesterday.
The authorities in the Ukrainian Sumy region, which borders Ukraine, ordered the evacuation of residents of 23 settlements, DPA recalls. Regional governor Volodymyr Artyukh told Ukrainian television that the measure affects about 6,000 people, including more than 400 children and adolescents, who will be transferred to a safe place.