Ukrainian forces left a path of destruction in Russia operation

A trail of destruction lies in the path that Ukrainian forces carved on their risky incursion into Russia, blasting through the border and eventually into the town of Sudzha, where Associated Press journalists travelled Friday on a Ukrainian government-organized trip.

A trail of destruction lies in the path that Ukrainian forces carved on their risky incursion into Russia, blasting through the border and eventually into the town of Sudzha, where Associated Press journalists travelled Friday on a Ukrainian government-organized trip.

Artillery fire has blown chunks out of a statue of Soviet founder Vladimir Lenin that stands in a central square of the Russian town, which Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Thursday was fully under his troops' control. The windows of an administrative building are blasted out, and its bright yellow facade is scorched and pockmarked with bullet holes.

Ukrainian forces have overrun one Russian settlement after another in the surprise operation that Kyiv hopes will change the dynamic of the 2 1/2-year-old conflict.

Russia's military has so far struggled to mount an effective response to the attack on its Kursk region, the largest on the country since World War II. Sudzha, which is 10 kilometres (6 miles) from the border, is the biggest town to fall to Ukraine's troops since the incursion began Aug. 6.

Evidence of Ukraine's lightning march lines the roads to the town. On grass littered with debris lies a sign blasted with bullets that has arrows in two directions: Ukraine to the left and Russia to right. A burned-out tank stands by the side of a road.

The photos and video the AP chose to publish were reviewed by the Ukrainian Defense Ministry, as is standard procedure on such trips.

The incursion has reframed the conflict, leading to the evacuation of more than 120,000 civilians, according to Russian authorities, and the capture of at least 100 Russian troops, according to Kyiv. It is widely seen as a major morale boost for a country and an army struggling to fend off steady Russian advances more than two years after Moscow sent troops into Ukraine.