Ukraine opens military office in occupied Kursk region, says it is still advancing

KYIV (Reuters) - Ukraine's top commander said on Thursday Kyiv had set up a military commandant's office in the occupied part of Russia's Kursk region where he said his forces were still advancing and had taken up to 1.5 km (0.93 miles) in the last 24 hours.

Colonel General Oleksandr Syrskyi told President Volodymyr Zelenskiy in a video published by the Ukrainian leader that Kyiv's forces had advanced 35 km into the Kursk region since launching an incursion into Russia last week.

"We are moving forward in Kursk region. A military commandant's office has been created which must ensure order and also all the needs of the local population," he said in a written statement on his Telegram channel.

Kyiv's surge into Russian territory last week caught Moscow by surprise, seizing the initiative from Russian forces who have been grinding out small but steady gains all year in the east of the country.

Syrskyi said Ukrainian forces had taken 82 settlements under control during the incursion and an area of 1,150 square kilometres.

He said he was appointing Major General Eduard Moskalyov to head up a military commandant's office in the Kyiv-held part of western Russia.

The colonel general indicated Kyiv's rate of advance had slowed in Kursk region.

He said Kyiv had taken between 500 metres and 1.5 km in the last 24 hours, compared with between one and two km reported the day before.

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, who spoke cryptically of the need to prepare the "next steps" in his public remarks on Wednesday, again hinted at other possible offensive actions on Russian territory.

"We must clearly guarantee at the legislative level that our warriors, who participate, for example, in the Kursk operation and will participate in all our other actions on the territory of the aggressor state, will receive absolutely all payments and benefits designated for the front line," he said.

NO LETUP IN THE EAST

Ukraine said there was no sign Russian military pressure was receding along the eastern front inside its borders on Thursday, more than a week after its incursion into Russia, and reported the heaviest fighting in weeks near the city of Pokrovsk.

The head of the Pokrovsk military administration on Thursday appealed to locals to evacuate.

"The enemy has come almost right up to the city of Pokrovsk. Just over 10 kilometers from the outskirts of the city," he said on Telegram.

Syrskiy told Zelenskiy in his report by video link that the situation in the east and south where Russia has already captured swathes of the country was "difficult but under control".

"The main efforts are focused on preventing the enemy from advancing in the directions of Toretsk and Pokrovsk, inflicting maximum losses, and creating favorable conditions for further actions," he said.

Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said Ukraine was working to set up a humanitarian corridor to Russia's Kursk region from the northern Ukrainian region of Sumy.

(Reporting by Olena Harmash, Pavel Polityuk and Yuliia Dysa; writing by Tom Balmforth; editing by Tomasz Janowski and Philippa Fletcher)