UN Says Has Asked Moscow For Access to Under-Fire Border Areas

The UN rights office said on Thursday that it has asked Moscow to allow it to visit Russian regions affected by a cross-border attack by Ukrainian forces.

"I can confirm that the UN Human Rights Office has sent a request to the Russian authorities to facilitate access by the Office to areas of the Russian Federation affected by the hostilities, including Belgorod, Bryansk, and Kursk regions, further to our human rights monitoring and assessment mandate," Liz Throssell, a spokesperson for the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, said in an email to AFP.

The request was sent on Wednesday.

The office has already asked Russia on several occasions for access to both Russian territory and to Ukrainian territories under Russia's control, to no avail, she said.

The Ukrainian army entered the Kursk region on August 6, capturing dozens of settlements in the biggest offensive by a foreign army on Russian soil since World War II and forcing thousands to flee.

Interior Minister Igor Klymenko has said that Ukraine intends to create a "buffer zone" in the region to prevent Russian cross-border strikes.

An AFP analysis of data provided by the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) indicated Ukrainian troops had advanced over an area of at least 800 square kilometres (310 square miles) of Russia as of Monday.

The offensive has forced thousands to flee the region of Kursk.

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Russian state-controlled media has been saying very little about the massive attack, but satellite images of the aftermath tell a story of sheer devastation.

Evacuations have also been ordered in the region of Belgorod, which lies south of Kursk and which has declared its own state of emergency.

The Bryansk region lies to the north of Kursk.