Summary
President Volodymyr Zelensky has confirmed for the first time that the Ukrainian military is conducting a cross-border offensive inside Russia's western Kursk region
Late Saturday night, Zelensky said Ukraine was pushing the war onto "the aggressor's territory"
Russia's foreign ministry says its army will deliver a "tough response" to the incursion
On Tuesday, Kyiv launched the surprise attack and has advanced more than 10km (six miles) inside Russia
Russia says 76,000 people have been evacuated from border areas in the Kursk region
This is the deepest raid into the country since Moscow began its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022
Kyiv and several other regions came under a Russian drone and missile attack overnight, killing two, local officials said
Live Reporting
Edited by Johanna Chisholm
Moscow vows to respond as Ukraine pushes inside Russiapublished at 16:28 British Summer Time 11 August
16:28 BST 11 August
Today we've beenfocussing on developments in the Ukraine war, following President Zelensky'sconfirmation that Kyiv is carrying out an offensive inside Russia, which was launched onTuesday.
We're soon going to be closing our coverage for the day, but here's the key things you need to know for the day:
- President Zelensky confirmed in his nightly video address on Saturday that Kyiv was carrying out a cross-border offensive into Russia
- At the time of his address, the Ukrainian advances into western Kursk region had penetrated more than 10km (six miles) past the border - making it the furthest since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine began in February 2022
- On Sunday, Russia appeared to acknowledge that Ukrainian forces had advanced still further. Its defence ministry said it engaged Ukrainian troops near towns 25km and 30km from the border
- Moscow has vowed a "tough" response to the incursion and a Ukrainian missile strike on a residential building in Kursk that it said injured at least 11, the foreign ministry said
- Earlier, the Russian Defence Ministry said its forces had shot down 35 drones and four rockets overnight that it said was fired by "the Kyiv regime"
- Ukraine in turn reported to have shot down 53 of 57 attack drones last night
- They released more details of two deaths in Kyiv overnight - a father and his four-year-old son were killed when a rocket fragment fell on residential houses. Three more were injured according to emergency services
- BBC Verify has been working to confirm details of footage that is coming through from Russia. You can watch a video showing destroyed Russian convoy here and Ukrainian soldiers removing a Russian flag from a building here
Thank you for joining our live coverage. This page was written by Cachella Smith and Jaroslav Lukiv and was edited by Johanna Chisholm.
Russia builds extra defences near nuclear plantpublished at 16:25 British Summer Time 11 August
16:25 BST 11 August
Benedict Garman
BBC VerifyImage source, TelegramRussia appears to be building new defensive trench lines in the Kursk region, not far from a nuclear power plant.
A video filmed from a moving vehicle and analysed by BBC Verify shows heavy machinery next to a long line of piled earth running parallel to the E38 road, just south-east of the Kursk nuclear plant.
Contrasting satellite imagery of the same location captured yesterday with imagery from a few days earlier shows what seem to be several newly constructed trench lines in the vicinity, with the nearest roughly 8km (5 miles) from the power station.
On Friday, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) urged "all sides to exercise maximum restraint in order to avoid a nuclear accident".
Image source, Planet Labs PBCIn pictures: The scene from Kyiv region following overnight air strikespublished at 15:44 British Summer Time 11 August
15:44 BST 11 August
More pictures are now filtering through from Ukraine, where this morning we heard of air strikes overnight.
That attack killed two people and injured three, including a 12-year-old boy, according to emergency services.
The Ukrainian Prosecutor General's office says three were hospitalised with various injuries and that residential buildings, farm buildings and vehicles were damaged.
Here, you can take a look at what some of that damage in the Kyiv region looked like this morning.
Image source, EPA-EFE/REX/ShutterstockImage source, EPA-EFE/REX/ShutterstockImage source, EPA-EFE/REX/ShutterstockImage source, EPA-EFE/REX/ShutterstockUkrainians targeted in Russian village of Cherkasskoe Porechnoepublished at 15:11 British Summer Time 11 August
15:11 BST 11 August
Image source, ZvezdanewsBy Benedict Garman
BBC Verify has locatedthe scenes pictured in two images we published earlier, which were provided by the Russian Defence Ministry via Reuters news agency.
The photos are framesfrom two videos of strikes on Ukrainian vehicles in the village of CherkasskoePorechnoe in Kursk Oblast, and show sections of road roughly 200m (656ft) apart.
The videos were firstpublished online yesterday, but fire monitoring data from Nasa's FIRMS service- which tracks and logs heat signatures on the Earth's surface - showsfires at and around these locations on Friday, suggesting it happened then.
One of the videos alsoshows another vehicle burning roughly 1km (0.6 miles) further along the roadinto the village.
This is just under 15km (9.3 miles) into Russia as the crowflies from the nearest section of border with Ukraine.
More injured in new Ukrainian attacks on Belgorod region - Russian governorpublished at 15:02 British Summer Time 11 August
15:02 BST 11 August
The governor of Russia's western Belgorod region, also on the border with Ukraine, says at least one civilian - a man - was injured in the latest Ukrainian attacks on three settlements.
Vyacheslav Gladkov says preliminary information suggested the man in the town of Shebekino had leg and forearm wounds, and was now being transported to the regional capital Belgorod for treatment.
He did not say what weapons were used in the attack.
The governor also says two buildings were damaged in Ukrainian drone attacks in two villages in the region.
In an earlier post on Telegram, Gladkov said four civilians were injured today in Shebekino - three of whom were taken to a regional hospital with shrapnel wounds.
The fourth was taken to the central district hospital.
Dozens of military vehicles featuring white triangle spotted near borderpublished at 14:33 British Summer Time 11 August
14:33 BST 11 August
Image source, Viacheslav Ratynskyi/ReutersReports are coming through now that dozens of armoured Ukrainian vehicles featuring a white triangle have been seen around Sumy - the border area where Kyiv launched its offensive on Russia.
Journalists from the AFP news agency have seen various military vehicles with the same white insignia. The agency says the triangles are apparently used to identify hardware used for the ongoing offensive.
Russia continuing to repel Ukraine's attempted invasion - defence ministrypublished at 13:58 British Summer Time 11 August
13:58 BST 11 August
In its latest report, the Russian Defence Ministry says its troops are "continuing to repel an attempted invasion" by Ukrainian forces in the Kursk region.
It says "attempts by mobile enemy groups to break through on armoured vehicles deep into Russia territory" have been foiled.
The ministry mentions three locations in the Kursk region - ranging from between 25km (15 miles) and 30km (19 miles) from the border with Ukraine - where it says Ukrainian forces were hit.
It adds that Ukraine lost 230 military personnel and 38 armoured vehicles in the past 24 hours.
The Russian claims have not been independently verified. This report is very similar to those issued in previous days.
Photos reveal scale of destruction in Kursk, where residential building was hitpublished at 13:30 British Summer Time 11 August
13:30 BST 11 August
We reported earlier claims by Russian officials that 13 people were injured late on Saturday when the wreckage of a downed Ukrainian missile fell on a multi-storey building in Kursk's regional capital, Kursk.
That number has now gone up - 15 people are known to have been injured, according to regional governor Aleksei Smirnov, who says they are all being currently treated.
And we now have photos showing the destruction.
Image source, ReutersImage source, ReutersSmirnov now says temporary accommodation has been offered to the affected residents - but they have decided to move to their relatives' houses instead.
The residents will also get compensation, Smirnov adds.
Ukrainian soldiers film themselves in Russian villagespublished at 13:06 British Summer Time 11 August
13:06 BST 11 August
By Emma Pengelly andBenedict Garman
A group of soldiers have filmed themselves raising a Ukrainian flag while trampling a Russian one in avideo uploaded to social media this morning and located by BBC Verify to anadministrative building in the village of Guevo, in the Kursk region of Russia.
This village is just over 3km (1.8 miles) into Russia.
It's one of several videos BBC Verify has analysed showing Ukrainian soldiers in Russiansettlements in the Kursk and Belgorod regions since the incursion began sixdays ago.
Another, publishedyesterday, shows a Russian flag being torn from an administration building inSverdlikovo, while two others, also published in recent days, are confirmed byBBC Verify to show Ukrainian troops in Poroz and outside a gas distributionbranch in Sudzha.
These videos arerecently indexed by search engines, and therefore likely to have been recentlyuploaded to the internet, but it's unclear precisely when they were filmed.
Sumy activity suggests this is more than a smash and grabpublished at 12:44 British Summer Time 11 August
12:44 BST 11 August
James Waterhouse
BBC Ukraine Correspondent in the Sumy regionSince Russian forces tried and failed to captureterritory here in 2022, the northern Sumy region had experienced a relativereprieve from the fighting.
Over recent months, that started to change as Russian forces bothgathered on the border and increased air strikes.
It’s in this part of the country that Ukraine now seemsto be seizing the initiative seizing the initiative 50kmfrom where we are.
The steady flow of personnel carriers, tanks and supplytrucks suggests they are committed to this offensive as well.
“It’s a good a thing, they need to be punished,” saysLiubov, a caretaker at a village school towards the Russian border.
She’s helping clear debris from a glide bomb that landednext to the main building. There’s a large crater outside the entrance.
This week, Ukrainian military expert Mykhaylo Samusrepeated his claim that Kyiv “can seize the initiative from Russia only in anon-standard way, asymmetrically”.
After acknowledging the cross-border offensive for thefirst time last night, it seems President Zelensky was thinking the same.
Russia vows 'tough response' to Ukraine attackspublished at 12:26 British Summer Time 11 August
12:26 BST 11 August
We're receiving some fresh reaction from Russia, with officials vowing a "tough response" to Ukraine's latest reported attacks on several regions in the country, in addition to the Moscow-controlled part of Ukraine's eastern Donetsk region.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has said in a statement: "The Kyiv regime is continuing its terrorist activity with the sole purpose of intimidating the peaceful population of Russia."
She adds that Ukraine "understands perfectly well" that the recent attacks "make no sense from a military point of view".
The Russian spokeswoman mentioned several attacks in the past 24 hours, including what she said was a "massive" overnight strike on the regional capital Kursk.
Earlier, the local governor for Kursk said 13 people had been injured when the wreckage of a Ukrainian missile fell on the multi-storey building in the city.
Image source, ReutersAerial images show Ukrainian tanks in Kursk regionpublished at 12:09 British Summer Time 11 August
12:09 BST 11 August
We're getting some of the latest images through on the news desk now, which show what is said to be a Ukrainian tank firing on something inside Russia in the Kursk region.
These aerial images have come from the Russian Defence Ministry through Reuters news agency. They have not been verified by the BBC.
Image source, Russian Defence Ministry/ReutersImage source, Russian Defence Ministry/ReutersUkraine's air force says 53 drones shot down overnightpublished at 11:49 British Summer Time 11 August
11:49 BST 11 August
Some updated figures now on the overnight attack that Russia carried out across Ukraine last night.
Ukraine's Air Force has recently said that they shot down 53 of 57 attack drones (UAVs).
A post on the force's Telegram account lists a number of regions where the drones were destroyed, including Odesa, Kyiv, Sumy and Cherkasy.
It also goes on to say that four North Korean missiles were used as part of the attack, a report that the BBC was unable to verify.
This update does not specify what happened to those four, but it went on to claim that those kinds of projectiles rarely reach the desired targets.
Earlier, President Zelensky said the overnight attack just east of the capital that killed two people involved a North Korean-made missile.
Image source, ReutersUkraine's incursion shows Russia's war is not going to planpublished at 11:24 British Summer Time 11 August
11:24 BST 11 August
Image source, SPUTNIK/KREMLIN POOL/EPA-EFE/REX/ShutterstockAs we've been reporting this morning, Ukraine's cross-border offensive into Russia began last Tuesday.
Before Zelensky's confirmation of the incursion last night, our Russia Editor Steve Rosenberg had considered how the war has progressed since Moscow's full-scale invasion began in February 2022.
"The expectation was that it would take a matter of days, a few weeks maximum, for Russia to establish control over its neighbour," Rosenberg writes.
"That was nearly two-and-a-half years ago.
"The war in Ukraine rages on. It has not gone at all as Moscow had intended."
- You can read his full analysis here.
Timeline: How did Ukraine's cross-border offensive begin?published at 10:52 British Summer Time 11 August
10:52 BST 11 August
Over the course of the past week, Russia has been struggling to contain a Ukrainian offensive - now in its sixth day - in the country's western Kursk region.
Here's what is known about how the surprise cross-border incursion has been unfolding:
- 6 August: Russia says up to 1,000 Ukrainian troops - backed by tanks and other armoured vehicles - cross the border early in the morning
- 7 August: Unverified videos emerge of what are believed to be Ukrainian military vehicles moving in, and dozens of Russian border guards surrendering with a white flag
- A State of emergency is declared in the Kursk region
- Russian President Vladimir Putin says the Kursk incursion is a "major provocation" and holds crisis talks with the country's top military and security officials
- 8 August: Ukrainian soldiers are reported to have seized several Russian villages
- 9 August: Footage emerges of a destroyed large Russian military convoy in the Kursk region, and a separate video of Ukrainian soldiers claiming to have seized the regional town of Sudzha. BBC Verify later confirms the locations of the two recordings
- 9 August: Russia's defence ministry says reinforcements - including tanks and other heavy armour - are being sent to Kursk
- 10 August: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky acknowledged for the first time his military is conducting a cross-border offensive - without naming the Kursk region
Kyiv's offensive has now advanced more than 10km (six miles) inside Russia, making it the deepest raid since Moscow began its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Watch: Ukrainian soldiers remove Russian flag from council buildingpublished at 10:32 British Summer Time 11 August
10:32 BST 11 August
We're continuing to get some more video footage and pictures from inside Russia.
In this latest clip, you can see two soldiers who appear to be dressed in a Ukrainian uniform in Sverdlikovo, a village in the Kursk region. The BBC was able to verify the location of this video.
The pair can then be seen removing a Russian flag from the side of a council building.
Russia's Belgorod governor reports 11 injured in Ukraine attackspublished at 10:11 British Summer Time 11 August
10:11 BST 11 August
We can now bring you some more details about the Ukrainian drone attacks and shelling that have taken place in Russia over the past 24 hours.
The governor of Russia's western Belgorod region - on the border with Ukraine - says 11 people were injured.
In a post on Telegram, Vyacheslav Gladkov adds that a number of private residential houses and other buildings were damaged in the attack. Vehicles across the region were also damaged.
Watch: Verified video shows destroyed Russian convoypublished at 09:51 British Summer Time 11 August
09:51 BST 11 August
BBC Verify has recently looked at an online video that shows footage of a heavily-damaged Russian convoy in Kursk.
The video was filmed at around 06:00 local time, as seen from the direction and length of the shadows, and first began being shared online on Friday morning.
It was filmed along the E38 road through the town of Oktyabr'skoe, roughly 38km (24 miles) from Russian's southern border with Ukraine.
The footage shows destroyed military vehicles lining the side of the road - inside some are injured or dead soldiers.
The uploader of the video has been detained by Russian authorities.
In pictures: Ukraine's border offensive throughout the weekpublished at 09:36 British Summer Time 11 August
09:36 BST 11 August
On Tuesday, Ukraine's rare border offensive into Russia began, with up to 1,000 troops, supported by tanks and armoured vehicles, entering the Kursk region, Moscow said.
Here, we've pulled together some of the pictures we have received as we enter the sixth day of Ukraine's surprise attack.
Image source, State Emergency Service of Ukraine/ReutersImage source, Russian Emergencies Ministry/ReutersImage source, Russian Emergencies Ministry/ReutersImage source, IZ.RU/ReutersFather and son killed in Russian attack in Kyiv region - local officialspublished at 09:21 British Summer Time 11 August
09:21 BST 11 August
Image source, ReutersIn Ukraine overnight, a 35-year-old man and his four-year-old son were killed in the Kyiv region when a rocket fragment fell on residential houses, emergency services have said early on Sunday.
Three more people were injured, including a 13-year-old child, in the Brovary area (rayon).
On Saturday night, Kyiv Mayor Vitaliy Klitschko posted on Telegram that air defence units were "operating" in the capital and warned civilians to stay in shelters.
Several other Ukrainian regions also came under Russian rocket and drone attack overnight.
