Kyiv says it is creating a 'buffer zone' in Kursk region and planning evacuation corridors

(Patria) - Senior Kyiv officials said on Wednesday that Ukraine is creating a “tampon zone” in the Russian region of Kursk and plans to organize humanitarian aid and evacuation corridors for civilians who want to leave either for Russia or Ukraine, Reuters reported.

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy met with top officials to discuss the humanitarian situation and the possible establishment of military administrations in areas occupied by Ukrainian forces in a cross-border offensive that began on August 6.

“Our military plan to... open humanitarian corridors for the evacuation of civilians: both in the direction of Russia and in the direction of Ukraine,” Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said on Telegram.

Kyiv plans to organize access for international humanitarian organizations, which will likely include the International Committee of the Red Cross and the United Nations, officials said.

“Food, medicine, and other essential items for the civilian population should be provided in the ‘buffer zone’,” Ukrainian Human Rights Commissioner Dmytro Lubinets said on Telegram.

Zelenskiy said that Ukrainian forces “strictly adhere” to international conventions and humanitarian law.

Ukraine said on Wednesday that its cross-border incursion had advanced one to two kilometers into the Kursk region since the start of the day and that its troops had finished clearing the Russian border town of Sudzha of Russian forces.

“Creating a buffer zone in the Kursk region is a step designed to protect our border communities from daily enemy attacks,” Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said on Telegram.