Ukraine claims control of hundreds of square miles of Russian territory as operation forces tens of thousands to flee

(CNN) — Russian President Vladimir Putin promised to “kick the enemy out” of his country’s territory after it emerged that Ukrainian troops were in control of dozens of Russian villages and large swathes of land a week into Kyiv’s surprise cross-border incursion.

The scale of the incursion became clearer on Monday when Putin held a meeting with local officials from the border regions as well as some of Russia’s top security, government and law enforcement personnel.

The acting head of the Kursk region, Aleksey Smirnov, told Putin that 28 settlements in his region were now under Ukrainian control, adding that Ukrainian troops had managed to advance some 7.5 miles (12 kilometers) into the territory across a 25-mile (40-kilometer) wide stretch of the border.

Meanwhile, the Ukrainian military chief Oleksandr Syrskyi said on Monday that some 386 square miles (1,000 square kilometers) of Russian territory were now under Ukrainian control.

Putin said the incursion was an attempt by Ukraine to “improve its negotiation position.”

“But what kind of negotiations can we even talk about with people who indiscriminately strike at civilians, at civilian infrastructure, or try to create threats to nuclear power facilities. What can we even talk about with them?” Putin said.

CNN cannot independently verify Putin’s claims that Ukraine has struck civilians in the incursion. Over the course of the war, Russia has been repeatedly accused of targeting Ukrainian civilians and civilian infrastructure by Kyiv, its Western allies and by international bodies, including the International Criminal Court and the United Nations. Russia has denied the accusations, despite evidence.

Putin went on to tell his security chiefs to expel the Ukrainian forces: “The main task is certainly before the Ministry of Defense: to squeeze out, knock out the enemy from our territories and, together with the border guard service, ensure reliable protection of the state border.”

The Ukrainian advances have sparked a large wave of evacuations from the border regions. Smirnov said 180,000 people had been told to evacuate and that 121,000 have left already.

Vyacheslav Gladkov, the governor of the neighboring Belgorod region in southern Russia, said people living in the Krasnoyaruzhsky district were being moved to safer places.

“We’re having a disturbing morning – enemy activities on the border of Krasnoyaruzhsky district. I am sure that our military will do everything to cope with this threat. But to protect the life and health of our people, we are beginning to relocate people who live in the Krasnoyaruzhsky district to safer places,” he said in a statement posted on his official Telegram channel.

About 11,000 residents from Krasnoyaruzhsky district were evacuated, the head of the district administration, Andrey Miskov, said later.

The incursion, which is now affecting two Russian regions, is seen as something of a game-changer in the conflict. The Ukrainian military has in the past regularly attacked targets inside the Belgorod region with drones and missiles, but until last week Kyiv had not launched any official ground incursions across the border in the two and half years since the start of the full-scale war.

The extent of the operation remains unclear.

An influential Russian military blog Rybar said on Monday that “apparently the (Armed Forces of Ukraine) is not shying away from plans to stretch our defensive formations, create the maximum number of points of tension, and attempt to break through in the east to cut Belgorod off from the north.”

Ukrainian officials are yet to comment on the current operations in Belgorod and CNN is unable to independently confirm Rybar’s claim.

A video geolocated by CNN posted on social media over the weekend shows Ukrainian soldiers holding their flag outside a rural social club in Poroz, a village that sits in Belgorod region about a mile from the international border.

Several Russian military bloggers reported an attempt by Ukrainian armed forces to attack a border crossing in the Belgorod region Monday morning, in the district that Russian authorities say is being evacuated.

CNN has reached out to the Ukrainian Defense Ministry for comment.

The operation, which started last Tuesday, has been shrouded in mystery. Ukrainian officials for days remained silent, refusing to comment on reports of Ukrainian troops operating inside Russia.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky finally confirmed Kyiv’s troops had crossed into Russia on Saturday, saying in his nightly address to the nation that “Ukraine is proving that it really knows how to restore justice and guarantees exactly the kind of pressure that is needed – pressure on the aggressor.”

On Monday, he said “Russia must be forced into peace if Putin wants to continue waging war so badly.” Zelensky reiterated that it is “only fair” and beneficial to destroy the Russian positions that are used to launch strikes at the Ukrainian territory and reminded that thousands of strikes have been launched from the Kursk region alone since June 1.

“Therefore, our operations are purely a security matter for Ukraine, the liberation of the border area from the Russian military,” he noted.

Diversionary tactic?

The reason for the attack is also unclear. Ukraine has been under increased pressure along the 600-mile front line as Moscow continues its slow, grinding offensive, inching towards several strategically important towns and roads in eastern Ukraine.

The Ukrainian General Staff said Russia was targeting Toretsk, a strategic town just north of Donetsk. Toretsk lies on the southern end of a key road that connects Kostyantynivka, Kramatorsk and Sloviansk, three Ukrainian cities that form the backbone of Ukraine’s defenses of the region.

According to two Ukrainian military bloggers, Russian forces are pushing into Toretsk from several locations, trying to outflank Ukrainian forces. One blogger said Russian forces were already operating within the city. Russian military bloggers suggested a similar strategy, claiming Moscow’s armies had advanced in several locations around the town.

CNN could not independently verify their accounts but video geolocated by CNN showed Russian forces operating just south of the city.

The Ukrainian cross-border attack could be an attempt by Kyiv to divert Russian resources elsewhere. Given the spate of more negative developments from the front lines, the news of a successful incursion may help Kyiv boost the morale of its troops and civilian population.

Analysts at the Institute for the Study of War (ISW), a US-based conflict monitoring group, say the situation at the front in the East remains largely unchanged, with Russian forces still retaining momentum and continuing on the offensive despite Ukraine’s push in the Kursk region.

Putin accused Ukraine of trying “to destabilize” his country, according to the Kremlin, adding that “a primary military objective” of the incursion is “to halt the advance” of Russian forces in eastern Ukraine.

He said currently “the pace of offensive operations” in the East “has actually increased by 50%” and the Russian troops are advancing “along the entire front.”

Moscow has been scrambling to contain the attack. Russian authorities imposed a sweeping counter-terror operation in three border regions – Belgorod, Bryansk and Kursk – but stopped short of declaring the incursion an act of war.

The ISW said this was likely an attempt by the Kremlin to deliberately downplay the assault to prevent domestic panic or backlash over the fact that Russia was unable to defend its own borders.

“Russian President Vladimir Putin has refrained from officially declaring a state of war, has repeatedly demonstrated his unwillingness to transfer Russian society fully to a war-time footing, and has forgone declaring general mobilization as part of wider efforts to prevent domestic discontent that could threaten the stability of (his) regime,” the ISW said in its update.

The counterterrorist regime officially gives Russian authorities wider powers, including the ability to monitor telephone conversations and restrict communications and limiting the movement of people.

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CNN’s Radina Gigova, Mariya Knight, Daria Tarasova-Markina, Olga Voytovych, Vasco Cotovio, Clare Sebastian and Allegra Goodwin contributed to this report.