Maps show how much Russian territory Ukraine is thought to have captured just over a week into its invasion

“We see signs that they are trying to reinforce themselves in and around the Kursk area as a result of Ukrainian operations there,” Kirby explained to reporters on Thursday. “Doing that means you’re taking assets that were in one place doing one thing, and now they have to go do another.”

He added that this “certainly presents a dilemma in the decision-making process.”

The intense fighting in the Kursk region has forced more than 130,000 civilians to flee the area, and Ukraine said its forces have also taken hundreds of Russian prisoners of war during the operation.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian forces captured the town of Sudzha and are setting up a military commandant’s office there, Zelenskyy said Thursday, citing a new report from Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi.

Sudzha, which is adjacent to a key gas terminal, is the largest town in Russia that the invading Ukrainian forces appear to have captured so far.