Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy made his first visit Thursday to the border area where his forces launched their surprise offensive into Russia, saying that Kyiv's military had taken control of another Russian village and captured more prisoners of war.
While in Ukraine's northern Sumy region, Zelenskyy said the new POWs from the Russian region of Kursk would help build an "exchange fund" to swap for captured Ukrainians.
"Another settlement in the Kursk region is now under Ukrainian control, and we have replenished the exchange fund," Zelenskyy wrote on the social media platform X after hearing a report from his country's top military commander, Col. Gen. Oleksandr Syrskyi.
Zelenskyy did not name the newly captured village and did not cross over into Russia, which would been regarded by Moscow as a provocation. He previously has said that Ukraine has no plans to occupy the area long term but wants to create a buffer zone to prevent further attacks from that area into Ukraine.
Zelenskyy said the Kursk operation launched Aug. 6 has reduced Russian shelling and civilian casualties in the Sumy region.
In another example of Ukraine's intensifying attacks on Russia, emergency authorities in Russia's Krasnodar region said a Ukrainian strike hit a cargo ferry loaded with fuel tanks at the port of Kavkaz, sparking a blaze. The port is on the Kerch Strait linking the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov.
Russian Telegram channels posted videos purportedly showing a huge fire caused by the strike.
The daring Ukrainian foray has rattled the Kremlin, showing Russia's vulnerability and shattering President Vladimir Putin's efforts to pretend that the country has been largely unaffected by the 2 1/2-year war.
Ukraine's push into Russia marks the first capture of Russian territory since World War II, but it comes as Kyiv continues to lose ground in eastern Ukraine.
Authorities in the city of Kursk, the capital of the Kursk region, began to put up concrete shelters at bus stops and other locations to protect against shelling. They plan similar work in Zheleznogorsk and Kurchatov, where a nuclear power plant is located, the region's acting Gov. Alexei Smirnov said on his Telegram channel.
The International Atomic Energy Agency said it received a report from Russia that fragments of an intercepted drone were found Thursday on the plant's territory.
"Military activity in the vicinity of a nuclear power plant is a serious risk to nuclear safety and security," said IAEA Director Rafael Grossi, who plans to visit the site next week.
Putin has ordered the creation of self-defense units in Russian regions bordering Ukraine, the Russian leader said in a video call with officials.
Smirnov reported to Putin that over 133,000 people have left areas affected by the fighting in the Kursk region, while more than 19,000 have stayed.
The governor of Bryansk, another Russian region bordering Ukraine, said authorities there have conducted training for emergency evacuation as a precaution.
Separately, the Russian Defense Ministry reported repelling Ukrainian attacks near the villages of Komarovka, Malaya Loknya, Korenevka and several other settlements in the Kursk region.
Education Minister Sergey Kravtsov said 114 schools in Russia's border regions will start teaching remotely when the school year begins at the start of September.
This satellite photo from Planet Labs PBC shows a fire at an oil depot earlier hit by a Ukrainian drone attack near Proletarsk, Russia, Monday, Aug. 19, 2024. (Planet Labs PBC via AP)
Elsewhere, the Defence Ministry said Thursday that its military has claimed control of the Ukrainian village of Mezhove in Donetsk, part of the industrial Donbas region that Moscow seeks to take entirely.
Both sides in the war have been using drones to attack deep behind enemy lines.
Ukraine attacked Russia overnight with 28 drones, the Defence Ministry said. Thirteen were shot down over the Volgograd region, seven over the Rostov region, four over the Belgorod region, two over the Voronezh region, and one each over the Bryansk and Kursk regions, the ministry said.
Andrei Bocharov, governor of the Volgograd region, said Thursday that a military facility caught fire after being attacked by drones in the area of Marinovka, where Russia has a military air base. He did not specify what was damaged.
Videos shared on Russian social media showed an explosion in the night sky, reportedly near the base. Marinovka is about 300 kilometres (185 miles) east of the Ukrainian border.
Ukraine claimed responsibility for the attack. Ukraine’s security service and its special operation forces conducted the drone attack Wednesday night, striking the Marinovka airfield, a law enforcement official told The Associated Press. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly.
The Baza Telegram channel, which is close to Russian law enforcement, said one drone was taken down several kilometres (miles) from the airfield near Marinovka and that wreckage from another fell on a trailer near the air base, causing it to catch fire.
Data from NASA fire-watching satellites, which monitor Earth for forest blazes, showed fires breaking out around the air base’s apron, where fighter jets were previously seen parked.
Another fire burned Thursday in Russia's Rostov region, where firefighters struggled for a fifth day to put out flames at an oil depot following a Ukrainian attack in the town of Proletarsk. State news agency Tass said 47 firefighters have been injured while putting out the blaze.
Satellite photos from Planet Labs PBC analyzed Thursday by The Associated Press showed the fire at the oil depot still intensely burning as of Wednesday. Storage tanks at the facility appeared engulfed in flames. Flames could be seen in the images, with a thick black smoke cloud drifting west over the city of Proletarsk.
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Associated Press writers Emma Burrows in London and Jon Gambrell in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, contributed to this report.
A $2.14-billion federal loan for an Ottawa-based satellite operator has Canadian politicians arguing about whether American billionaire Elon Musk poses a national security risk.
Specialist divers surveying the wreckage of the US$40 million superyacht that sank off Sicily in August, killing seven people including British tech tycoon Mike Lynch, have asked for heightened security to guard the vessel, over concerns that sensitive data locked in its safes may interest foreign governments, multiple sources told CNN.
Twenty-seven year Â鶹ӰÊÓ reporter and anchor John Vennavally-Rao shares his story of what it was like to have an ostomy bag as part of his health-care battle. 'I’m grateful for what it did to extend my life,' he writes in a personal column for CTVNews.ca.
The British Columbia election campaign is set to officially start today, with Lt.-Gov. Janet Austin issuing the writ for the Oct. 19 vote.
A northern Ontario man is facing a $12,000 fine after illegally shooting a moose near the Batchawan River.
A new study is adding to emerging research showing that exposure to metals such as cadmium, uranium and copper may also be associated with the leading cause of death worldwide, cardiovascular disease.
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The Lebanese militant group Hezbollah announced that it fired a barrage of missiles at a military base deep inside Israel early Sunday following an Israeli airstrike more than a day earlier that killed at least 37 people, including one of the militant group’s senior leaders as well as women and children.
A sea lion swam free after a rescue team disentangled it near Vancouver Island earlier this week.
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The British Columbia election campaign is set to officially start today, with Lt.-Gov. Janet Austin issuing the writ for the Oct. 19 vote.
A sea lion swam free after a rescue team disentangled it near Vancouver Island earlier this week.
A northern Ontario man is facing a $12,000 fine after illegally shooting a moose near the Batchawan River.
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Donald Trump returned to North Carolina on Saturday, stumping in the southern battleground state with direct appeals to women, claiming he would be a better champion for them than U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris, who is vying to become the first female president.
Sheba, a 50-year-old seal at the Cornish Seal Sanctuary in southwest England, has far surpassed the average lifespan for seals and could be the oldest in captivity in the world.
The more Chelsea Walsh talked to the eccentric fellow American who seemed to pop up in every square and cobblestone street of Ukraine's capital, the more she got creeped out.
Specialist divers surveying the wreckage of the US$40 million superyacht that sank off Sicily in August, killing seven people including British tech tycoon Mike Lynch, have asked for heightened security to guard the vessel, over concerns that sensitive data locked in its safes may interest foreign governments, multiple sources told CNN.
The Lebanese militant group Hezbollah announced that it fired a barrage of missiles at a military base deep inside Israel early Sunday following an Israeli airstrike more than a day earlier that killed at least 37 people, including one of the militant group’s senior leaders as well as women and children.
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Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly says close to 45,000 Canadians are in Lebanon, months after warning there is no guarantee Ottawa can evacuate them if the situation deteriorates further.
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The owner of the shuttered Three Mile Island nuclear power plant said Friday that it plans to restart the reactor under a 20-year agreement that calls for tech giant Microsoft to buy the power to supply its data centers with carbon-free energy.
Lebanese authorities on Thursday banned walkie-talkies and pagers from being taken on flights from Beirut airport, the National News Agency reported, after thousands of such devices exploded during a deadly attack on Hezbollah this week.
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Jonathan Aranda homered for the second consecutive game, helping Taj Bradley and the Tampa Bay Rays beat the Toronto Blue Jays 3-2 on Saturday.
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General Motors (GM) has issued a recall for 38,000 vehicles for safety risks related to a software glitch, Transport Canada reported in a notice on Wednesday.
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An anonymous business owner paid off the mortgage for a New Brunswick not-for-profit.
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A growing group of brides and wedding photographers from across the province say they have been taken for tens of thousands of dollars by a Barrie, Ont. wedding photographer.
Paleontologists from the Royal B.C. Museum have uncovered "a trove of extraordinary fossils" high in the mountains of northern B.C., the museum announced Thursday.
The search for a missing ancient 28-year-old chocolate donkey ended with a tragic discovery Wednesday.
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Volunteers and staff members gathered along Vancouver’s Stanley Park Seawall Saturday to pick up litter as part of International Coastal Cleanup Day.
A heritage home in Vancouver suffered "extensive damage" in a fire that broke out late Saturday morning, according to firefighters.
Toronto police are investigating a shooting in Scarborough that left one person injured Saturday night.
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Milla White from Cochrane literally drew her way into a meeting with former boxer and actor Mickey Rourke.
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For 12 hours Saturday Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CPCK) employees, service personnel and corporate teams rode spin bikes to raise funds and awareness for charities focusing on housing homeless veterans in Canada and the U.S.
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The Cambridge Professional Fire Fighters’ Association held their annual Muscular Dystrophy Boot Drive on Saturday.
Protests were held in front of Kitchener City Hall on Friday, both for and against LGBTQ2S+ inclusive education and queer rights in schools.
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The St. Thomas police is asking the public for help locating a missing man.
The Barrie Skateboard Association (BSA) hosted a unique competition at the City's Skate Park on Saturday to celebrate its 25th anniversary, which showcased the park's importance and the growth of skateboarding in the region.
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The St. Clair College golf teams were successful at the Niagara Knights Invitational tournament on Friday.
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The Red Bridge, a historic landmark in Kamloops, B.C., was completely destroyed by fire early Thursday morning.
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Despite the heavy rain, plenty of muscle turned up for United Way’s annual Pull the Bus fundraiser in Lethbridge Friday.
Lethbridge County has rescinded its fire restriction as a result of the recent cool, wet weathr.
The Lethbridge Hurricanes kicked off the 2024-25 season on a winning note Friday night, defeating the Edmonton Oil Kings 3-1 in a game played at VisitLethbridge.com Arena.
A northern Ontario man is facing a $12,000 fine after illegally shooting a moose near the Batchawan River.
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