the third day of the ukrainian offensive on the kursk region of russia, officially kyiv does not confirm this, moscow calls it a provocation and the situation, what is known about... both on the border and how they are commented on in the west, we are talking about this on the bbc live from london, i am evgenia shedlovska . so, there were no comments from the ukrainian authorities, and there are none, but there were comments from western politicians and observers, what do they say about the fighting on the border territory of russia? the united states wants more information from the ukrainian military. this thesis was repeated several representatives of the american government, representatives of the white house and the state department, but generally no criticism. and they also

pointed out that the us policy on whether ukraine can use western weapons on the territory of russia has not changed, that is, this possibility is limited to an immediate threat. and in the european union, they say that ukraine has a legal right to defend itself, in particular, by striking the aggressor on its territory. let's see what the western press writes. the ukrainian offensive is called unexpected. for example, the new york times columnist writes that it a new and unexpected turn in this war, an attempt to change the situation in relations with moscow, and forbes has the following headline: yesterday ukraine invaded russia, today the ukrainians advanced 15 km, whatever kyiv's goal is, it is very risky, and the publication's reviewer suggests that it is possible that ukraine's goal is not to divert attention, but to capture and hold russian territory, and therefore use it in future peace negotiations. in general, observers believe that during these three days, the ukrainian forces managed to not only... break through

the russian border, and also to create a bridgehead on the border territory of russia, right there near suja, and expand it. but returning to the fact that this operation is not yet officially confirmed, why it is, whether it can disrupt the russian offensive in the east, we asked the british viewer jonathan marcus about this. the first thing i would like to say is that... this ukrainian operation, both in terms of its scale and scope, came as a huge surprise, and it is striking that it came as a surprise to the russians as well. the very nature of this operation is also interesting here. it is not this is the first time that ukraine is trying to move the war into russian territory, but in the past these have been very, very small special forces raids, often involving units of russian volunteers. i think that there are elements of at least four brigades. of course, that doesn't mean that there are exactly four brigades involved, but it does... it gives us a picture

that there is a significant grouping of mechanized mobile units there, and that's quite unusual for this war because of the easy visibility on the battlefield, precisely because of the use of drones , so the fact that the fact that the ukrainians were able to gather this force first, and then direct it to russia, and still remain invisible at the same time, is impressive. at the moment we don't know how far they've gone, we don't know the main objective, we don't know how long it will last, there are thoughts that this may be an attempt by the ukrainians to draw the russian forces away from the main line of their current offensive, where the ukrainian forces are holding, but suffering very strong pressure, but the russians are making progress very slowly and at high cost, so the russian advance continues, so it could be an operation to withdraw russian forces and force them to rethink the distribution of forces, to move their aviation, artillery, electronic warfare systems in order to confront ... this new threat,

and clearly, it would be beneficial to the ukrainian side. another interesting point in this operation is that, as it seems, more experienced ukrainian units are participating, which could not be said about the ukrainian summer offensive last year, which, unfortunately, did not live up to expectations. ukraine lost many people and equipment and didn't get much, but then it involved still recently trained formations and units, here it seems that they use much more... more experienced units, and this is perhaps one of the reasons that they broke through the russian defenses and advanced quite quickly on russian territory. this invasion gives the russians an even bigger strategic headache. russia is very sure that it will destroy ukraine, seize all its territory, but the war did not turn out as the kremlin expected, and the fact that ukrainians are on russian territory territories, this is clearly something that putin will have to deal with, and it will be a shock to ... this system. in this war, the russian

high command showed itself badly. in general, the russian military machine did not perform well. therefore, it will be beneficial for ukrainians if this operation eases the pressure on any. any part of the front. of course, this is a huge front line, and even the russians cannot defend it everywhere, so this is a very important development, but it is too early to tell its long-term strategic importance. the ukrainian government is nothing comments russian authorities say they have stopped the offensive. we'll talk more about the russian response in a bit, but first let's take a look at what is currently known about this operation. looked like the city of suja on russia's western border with ukraine on wednesday morning. you can see a man here, probably a local resident, looking at the damaged buildings geolocated in the area. and this is another video of a russian priest in suja that was widely shared on russian telegram on wednesday afternoon. on it he says that the city

were shelled for 14 hours in a row. russian officials say at least five people have died, and thousands more have been evacuated from the region. as in this photo, which was published by the governor of the moscow region. so, suja is located in kursk region. it's only about 10 km from the border with ukraine, so it's really not too far. intense fighting took place here on tuesday morning, when ukraine launched an armed raid on russian territory. kursk region is not the first to experience war. there have been regular drone attacks and reports of shelling in recent months. we verified this video. which appeared on social networks on tuesday. it shows a man watching in amazement as fighter jets fly overhead. russia claims that on tuesday morning, up to a thousand ukrainian troops entered its territory with the support of 11 tanks and more than 20 units of military equipment. however, we

cannot verify these claims. and this is a map from the analytical center of the institute for the study of war. according to his estimates, ukrainian troops advanced up to 10 km deep into the kursk region. russian sources report that the fighting continue in a series of tables in this area, but it is difficult to estimate the exact scale, since there are not many frames on the internet. one video, which we were able to determine to be north of the city of suja, shows some equipment losses. and by the shape of the towers, we can assume that these are russian tanks. the video was originally published by a russian military blogger as proof. ukrainian losses until his readers pointed out the error. we have also verified this video that surfaced on wednesday, showing men with their hands raised and one with a white flag on sujo border crossing.

russia's defense ministry says the fighting is ongoing and that ukraine has lost more than 600 troops since the invasion began. and more than 80 armored vehicles, including tanks. we have not been able to verify this. and so far, the ukrainian authorities only declare that the events in kurshchyna are the result of the aggression of russia itself. this is not the first invasion of russian territory from ukraine, but in terms of scale, it looks much bigger than anything we have seen so far. how do they comment on border battles in russia? it is reported that the railway stations are closed, suja, kornevo, psel, putin decided to pay 10,000 rubles each, which is approximately $100 each , to the displaced persons. and even earlier in the region. declared a state of emergency. the russian ministry of defense continues to publish videos of what they say is the destruction of ukrainian equipment, and russian television still does not seem to have decided what to call what is happening. they are talking about sabotage, attack, provocation, or, i quote:

a trick of the kyiv regime. and russian television shows how humanitarian aid is being collected in other regions of russia residents of the kurs region. but why collect? and even in such... volumes, it's like a natural disaster, although it is not completely clear from the russian news reports. and finally about drones: on august 7, sources in the sbu said that their fighters managed to shoot down a helicopter with a drone, shot down a russian mi-28 helicopter over the kurdish region of russia, this is what sources in the sbu said. and on the video that was distributed at the time, it can be seen that the drone hits the rear propeller. machines, but in general, what role do drones play in this war, this is our next report bbc correspondent quentin somerville has seen how ukrainian drone units work on the front lines, and this is his story: russia's invasion

has plunged ukraine into darkness, the constant threat weighing on ukrainians paints a bleak future of war. this is a secret underground command center in hark. a special unit of the national guard fights around the clock to monitor threats from a distance. fp pods can lift 1.2 kg of explosives that can directly engage... enemy cover, enemy infantry and armored vehicles. they are cheap and impress exactly goal. in this video, you see aeneas' team hunting down a russian soldier. there is no chance to survive after hitting a drone. another threat is guided aerial bombs launched by russian fighter jets from russian territory that fly precisely to the target. they transform. on dust with equipment for jamming drones on a car takes us on a reconnaissance in

lipka. aeneas, we are going very fast, it's all because of the drones. yes, through drones. it is dangerous. there are many russian fpv drones here. that is why we use our jamming system. it doesn't stop all drones. on in open spaces, the military becomes vulnerable. we need to run very fast. this is what guided bombs and drones did in july. crossing open terrain can be deadly. being sheltered deep underground is the only possible defense against such weapons. what is ours? today's mission is observation or attack? this is an attack on the probable positions of the russian army in

the command center in the forest. drone after drone take off to hit the enemy. we have to go to a safe place, fast. we see everything in real time, under a russian military vehicle in sight. only in our area of ​​the front, about 100 enemies die every day from drones. it's a battlefield, war is changing because of technology. an invisible but detected russian drone above us means we have to hide. enemy fire along these front lines

ukrainians recaptured about 500 meters of territory from the russians, this is not much, but it was very difficult to do. the company commander says that when it comes to drone warfare, the ukrainians have an advantage, but when it comes to drones, russia has a serious advantage here. now we hear a drone right above us. everyone froze, he was programmed to make any move to strike, finally we waited until the sky was clear. the drone we heard flew over there, we need to get out of here quickly. a year ago , drones did not play a major role in wars, now they are everywhere and always. and if

we talk about the situation at the front, on our website bbc.ua you can read about the russian offensive in the east of ukraine. in particular, in this article, pokrovsk, the time of yar toretsk, the russian offensive is approaching its climax in the east this material came out at the beginning of the month, but we and our colleagues then asked whether the russians would have enough strength for the final assault? this was before the opening of a new bridgehead on the border. but in this article we investigated what happened before that, and more materials on our website bbc.ua and subscribe to our pages in social networks so as not to miss important news, we are also on facebook, instagram, tiktok, and youtube you can watch our broadcast if you suddenly missed it live. watch our next broadcast tomorrow at 9:00 a.m evening, see you

we hear that someone is walking, walking, this drunk military man came in, called my mother, he was in the room, he quickly let my mother go... he let me go, then he called me, and i kind of came to terms with it, if psychologically, you know, if i left the body, conditionally, they waited until it all happened and

returned to the body, i generally wanted no one to... know, i didn't even want to go to the police, it's just that my mother contacted me, told me, and then me too had to on the night of february 24, daria and her boyfriend dmytro did not sleep. we were packing a suitcase for the train they were supposed to leave kyiv in the morning. reports

of the beginning of a full-scale war on the part of russia have been floating in the air for more than a month. was going to evacuate to the west of the country, we started hearing explosions and it was clear that this was exactly what we were afraid of. i called our friends in lviv, to whom we planned to go, they said that there were also explosions there, so we decided to stay in kyiv and a little later called our parents, daria's father lived in the village of havronshchyna, not far from kyiv, in a house that... once belonged to daria's grandparents, the couple decided to go there to to wait, as it seemed at the time, several terrible days, and actually for me it is such a valuable place, it is my place of strength, i

love it very much, and in principle i believed that at such moments one should be together with the family, that's why we...weighed all the factors and decided to go there to be all together. knock 20 flew by. at this time, russian troops had already begun to capture kyiv region and the southern regions. including the kherson region, where 16-year-old marina lived. i remember that i woke up this morning to study, and i look at what they write, the master writes that we are not we are going to the lyceum because the war has started, this

news knocked the ground out from under marina's feet, she was five months pregnant and the next day she had to... go to a nearby city for an examination, to find out the gender of the future child, i had the whole day stressful like that, and i was also thinking about whether to go or not, but then they still decided that it was necessary to go, that suddenly later there would be no way, there would be no possibility. at the examination, marina was told that in four months she will give birth to a boy. to return to the kherson region, as in the russian military, is already a part of it. was captured dangerous, even though the village of maryna was still under the control of the ukrainian armed forces, and i wanted to come to my mother, i went to the village, stayed there for two days, on the second, on the second day, the lights were turned off, they wrote that the russians were already in the neighboring villages, everyone they said

that they would not go to krasnovka, that it was such a small village, that they needed it here. and it turned out that they entered, well, it was already too late to leave, the village where daria and her family were evacuated, located fifty kilometers from kyiv. on the second day, when they arrived there, there the light and communication also disappeared. from the noise of the equipment, which according to their senses was not far from their house, they understood: russian... the military is capturing havron region, we, when we already heard explosions and shelling near us, we began to hide in the hills, and the artillery. there were many very close and we spent the night there, we slept, we were there in our clothes and arranged the room there as best we could, we put chairs there,

but of course it was all very scary, plus we didn’t understand what was happening, or even hope for anything , is this all over, we we will die here, daria's family managed to remain unnoticed for several weeks, the crypt where they hid was a stone's throw from the street, but... one of the neighbors said that there were people living there, and you should also go to them, to check on them. the russian military interrogated the family, checked documents and telephones and left. it was just the beginning. after that, they visited daria's home every day. they sat in the house, ate, tried to have conversations. they left closer to the evening, and returned again in the morning. one day, the military forced daria's father to give up his car and painted it her. with its symbolism, the next episode that was, they also came in the evening and said that we received a signal, as if

someone called from your house and as if surrendered their positions, or they were very heavily covered and as if someone surrendered, well of course we did not call anyone , because we didn't have a simple communication link, well , but they insisted on this very much and said that the leadership gave us an order... that we should carry out a sweep, that is, shoot and destroy those who did it. among the soldiers there was one who called himself a commander. he took daria, put her next to him in a separate room as a hostage and began to call each of her family members one by one for questioning. he interrogated for some time, and at some point he said that i was not fed up with it, you do not confess, and no one says anything, and you all become a government, and i will shoot you... now i will shoot you with one bullet, become a government, so that it will be more economical and faster, and also asked if you want it to happen inside the house or

outside, maybe he says, maybe you don't want the walls of your house dirty, and finally he shot the path, said that it was a warning, and if it happens again, well, he won't talk to us anymore, but... he left, said that i will return in the morning, if there is another order from the management, then i can in the morning to come back and do what i promised you, well of course we stayed up all night, it was a huge stress for us, and well it was just a shock situation, but the next day he came back, took our phones, and shows me my phone, he says chi... on the phone, well, i say mine, he says, get ready, you will go to the interrogation, now, i ask,

should i go alone, or all of us, will the interrogation be here or somewhere, he says, no, you will go alone, the interrogation will not be here, on our territory, the soldier put daria in her father's stolen car, pulled a cap over her eyes and drove away to the abandoned house of neighbors. he took me by the hand, took me to the second floor of the house, put me on the bed, and said, undress. well, i understood what it was going to, and i say that if you are going to ask me something about the phone, he says that i am not interested in your phone, but here. well, actually, well, you understand what's next was happening, it wasn't an interrogation, it was a rape, i didn't want to resist, well

, how i didn't want to, of course i wanted to, but i understood that if i were to cry there now or fight back in some way, he might get angry and that might it's worse to end, and well... and i sort of came to terms with it, if psychologically, you know, if i left the body, conditionally, waited until it all happened, and returned to the body, the most terrible moment was probably not the one when he brought me to this house, and when i saw my parents, in which they were condition, they were just barely alive, everyone... stood on their feet, but of course i didn't say anything to them, i said that we just talked, he asked me a few questions about the phone, i answered, and i'm like, everything's fine,

well, i myself... it was difficult that i understood that i could not share with anyone, and well, it was very difficult. the next day, the russian soldier returned to daria's home, well , the same thing happened, i also returned later, said that everything was fine, and consoled my parents, i just understood that if this is going to happen, these removals of mine will continue for a while, well, i just can't stand it anymore, well, it was very difficult. from the first days of the occupation, the russian military began to establish their own rules in the village of maryna, relocated all the locals to one part of the village and regularly visited them with inspections. well, that's when they came in, they were called to our house from the cellar, told

to keep girls, well, such... i, my sister was still a younger girl there, said to keep people like us away, to go there less often, to they saw us less, the fact that there are such military men who, well, probably scold, that's why, marina didn't he remembers the exact day it happened, he and his family were hiding in the neighbor's cellar, when they suddenly heard... shots, the russian military found local awards for participation in hostilities in the house, they started shouting there, started shooting, shooting , i don't know, all over, on the walls, on the ground, in the air, then they told everyone to get out of the crypt, well, only the adults came out, the scariest thing was when one soldier approached the crypt and started shooting into the crypt, and

oh. .. the bullets began to bounce off the petals, then i remember how everyone got quiet, i thought that that was it, that there was no one there anymore, that they were all shot, so they were worried about my mother, then we hear that they said that we are going to go, we are still let's come, so that we don't talk to you. for a short time, everyone exhaled, when two other soldiers came to the house, one of them, as marina recalls, was drunk, they continued to deal with the one to whom the awards belong, mocked the men, shot at the windows of the house where the rest were hiding, then we hear , that someone is coming, is coming, this one came in a drunken military man walks in and asks, like, who is here, how old, was she there, was i there?

my mother, my sister, and so on, they asked the girls, and there was a girl there too, 13 years old, he called my mother to another room, he quickly let my mother go, then he called me, well, then he grabbed me. did he threaten you? yes, he threatened me, said that if i resisted, he would shoot me, or he threatened me with his fists, but did he see that you were pregnant? well, i was five months old then, he didn't see much, but i did i told him that i'm profitable, that i don't want anything, he says like... why are you bothering like that,

if you don't want to be with me, then i 'll call 20 people there, you'll be with him one by one, like, yes choose either with me or with them, i still remember it, this smoke is very smelly, i tried to push him away, but he wanted to be drunk, but he was stronger than him, at that time mom marina saw... she thought that the girl and the soldier, who had taken her with him to another room, had disappeared. she told his comrade in arms about it. these soldiers called themselves snipers and were based in the building opposite. and then he also tried to undress me there, you also wanted to continue. then i pushed him away hard, he started talking, wanted to hit me, i...