The Russian town of Sudzha, in the far south of the Kursk region, and just across the border from the Ukrainian town of Sumy, has been under Kyiv's control for roughly a week now and contested for roughly two. 

Ukraine's government on Thursday published images of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy visiting the border region, close to where Ukrainian forces launched their surprise incursion into Russian territory.

But Kyiv has also been allowing reporters to accompany its military forces for a brief glimpse of the town on the other side of the frontier, in controlled circumstances. DW's Ukraine-based correspondent Nick Connolly was among them. 

Ukraine military spokesman: 'We don't want to keep this land, we don't need it' 

Ukraine's government has said the surprise incursion into Russia, which Western allies like the US and Germany say they had no prior knowledge of, is a bid to create a "buffer zone," saying Russia has been launching aerial attacks on northeastern Ukraine from the south of Kursk. 

However, the area to the northwest of Kharkiv constitutes just a tiny fraction of Ukraine and Russia's shared border of almost 2,300 kilometers (more than 1,400 miles). So while holding this territory could make a difference for a Ukrainian border city like Sumy, its overall impact is liable to be marginal. 

Oleksiy Dmytrashkivskyi has been named spokesman of the newly-created Ukrainian Kursk region military command, and he told DW the operation was also meant to send a message to Russia that the conflict was not a one-way street. 

"We don't want to keep this land, we don't need it," Dmytrashkivskyi said. "We've had to do this to show our enemy that they're vulnerable too, that they're not all-powerful." 

Lenin statue toppled; power, water and cellphone service cut off

Connolly reported that those civilians who were unable to flee in time have been without power, running water and mobile phone signal for around two weeks now, cut off from their families in the rest of Russia. 

His visit, overseen by Ukrainian soldiers, lasted just a few hours.

He spoke with a few locals who were sat outside, close to a cellar where they spend the nights in a bid to stay safe. Otherwise, Connolly said, the streets were largely empty and dangerous, with unexploded grenades and other ordinance abundant underfoot, and for the most part just the hum of electricity generators (for those still able to produce their own power) audible.

Those left behind often elderly, or caring for the elderly

One woman who identified herself as Nina said she was never given a chance to evacuate, and that the people she knew who fled did so independently, in their cars. 

"I live alone. My daughter lives far away. I had no way of getting out. I was looking after an elderly friend, she was sick — I couldn't just leave her. She died yesterday and we buried her today," Nina said. 

Another woman said that the previous day, while she was sheltering in the cellar, her home had been destroyed, most likely by artillery fire. 

Oleg, a middle-aged man who said he is not from Sudzha but that he had come to the town with work on the day fighting erupted, soon found himself trapped. 

"We didn't understand what was happening. I've been here ever since. My parents are back in the village, they're 84 and 83 years old. I don't know what's happened to them and they don't know what's happened to me," he said.

Showing civilians Russian atrocities in Ukraine

After Connolly had spoken to the locals, Ukrainian soldier Dmytrashkivskyi took out his laptop and began to show them a video from Bucha, the town near Kyiv where Russian troops are accused of carrying out war crimes during their initial, failed 2022 attempt to encircle and take the Ukrainian capital. 

He reported that the locals seemed exhausted and barely able to take anything in. 

Some Ukrainian soldiers told Connolly off camera they hoped that if they showed ordinary Russians what was done in their name in Ukraine, that might lead them to question President Vladimir Putin's story of what he refers to as a "special military operation" in Ukraine. 

Shortly after this, Ukrainian troops told Connolly it was time to leave and his short visit was brought to an end.