KYIV, Ukraine — Ukrainian forces pushed on with their major cross-border advance into Russia’s Kursk region for a second week Wednesday, claiming they took more ground, captured more Russian prisoners and destroyed a bomber in attacks on military airfields.
Assault troops advanced about a mile farther into areas of Kursk on Wednesday, the commander of the Ukrainian military, Gen. Oleksandr Syrskyi, said in a video posted on President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s Telegram channel.
Ukrainian troops also took more than 100 Russian soldiers prisoner, Syrskyi said. Zelenskyy said they would eventually be swapped for Ukrainian prisoners of war.
Additionally, the troops destroyed a Russian Su-34 jet used to launch devastating glide bombs at Ukrainian front-line positions and cities, Ukraine’s General Staff said.
Ukrainian servicemen sit inside their APC Wednesday after returning from the Russian Kursk region, near the Russian-Ukrainian border in Ukraine.
Evgeniy Maloletka, Associated Press
The surprise Ukrainian push into the Kursk region that began Aug. 6 rattled the Kremlin. The daring operation is the largest attack on Russia since World War II and could involve as many as 10,000 Ukrainian troops backed by armor and artillery, military analysts say.
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Syrskyi said Ukrainian forces advanced into about 390 square miles of the Kursk region, though it was not possible to independently verify that claim.
If Ukraine actually controls all of that territory in the Kursk region, it would have captured in just one week almost as much Ukrainian land as Russian forces took — 450 square miles — between January and July this year, according to calculations by the Institute for the Study of War, a Washington-based think tank.
Russian authorities acknowledged the Ukrainian gains in the Kursk region, but they described them as smaller than what Kyiv claims. Even so, they evacuated about 132,000 people from the Kursk and Belgorod regions and have plans to evacuate 59,000 more.
A Ukrainian armored vehicle drives Wednesday at the Russian-Ukrainian border in the Sumy region, Ukraine.
Evgeniy Maloletka, Associated Press
Ukraine’s deputy prime minister, Iryna Vereschuk, said Wednesday that the military plans to open humanitarian corridors that would allow civilians in Ukraine-controlled areas of the Kursk region to head elsewhere in Russia or into Ukraine.
Ukraine also claimed that overnight Tuesday into Wednesday, it conducted its biggest attack on Russian military airfields since the start of the Kremlin’s full-scale invasion in February 2022.
A Ukrainian security official who spoke on condition of anonymity told The Associated Press the aim was to sap Russia’s air power advantage.
A Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesperson said Tuesday that Kyiv has no intention to occupy the Russian territory it controls. Rather, it aims to stop Russia from firing missiles into Ukraine from Kursk, he said.
Ukrainian servicemen ride atop on armored vehicle Wednesday at the Russian-Ukrainian border in the Sumy region, Ukraine.
Evgeniy Maloletka, Associated Press
Analysts say Kyiv’s forces targeted the Kursk region because Russia’s weak command and control structure there made it vulnerable.
“The situation is still highly fluid, but with clear signs that the Russian command and control of responding units is still coming together, with all-important unity of command not yet achieved,” said retired U.S. Vice Adm. Robert Murrett, a professor and deputy director of Syracuse University’s Institute for Security Policy and Law. “The next 2-3 days will be critical for both sides.”
In AP video shot in Ukraine’s Sumy region, which borders Kursk and which analysts say serves as a staging ground for the cross-border advance, Ukrainian trucks and armored vehicles traveled along roads lined with thick forests.
Meanwhile, Russia’s Belgorod border region, which is next to Kursk, declared a regional emergency Wednesday during heavy Ukrainian shelling. A federal emergency was declared in Kursk on Saturday.
In this photo taken from video released Wednesday, Russian soldiers fire a Giatsint-S self-propelled gun toward Ukrainian positions at an undisclosed location.
Russian Defense Ministry Press Service
Belgorod Gov. Vyacheslav Gladkov described the situation there as “extremely difficult and tense,” as the attacks destroyed homes and caused civilian casualties, unnerving locals.
He said about 11,000 people fled their homes, with about 1,000 staying in temporary accommodation centers.
It wasn’t clear how, when — or whether — Ukraine would attempt to extricate itself from the ground it took. The Ukrainian military claims it controls 74 settlements, believed to be villages or hamlets, in the Kursk region.
Ukraine’s 1+1 TV channel published a video report Wednesday that it said was from Sudzha, a Russian town about 6 miles from the border. The report showed burned-out columns of Russian military vehicles, and Ukrainian soldiers handing out humanitarian aid to local residents and removing Russian flags from an administrative building.
Russia’s predicament is whether to pull troops from the front line in Ukraine’s Donetsk region, where achieving a breakthrough is one of the Kremlin’s primary war goals, to defend Kursk and halt the Ukrainian advance.
U.S. President Joe Biden said Tuesday that the developments in Russia are “creating a real dilemma” for Russian President Vladimir Putin. Biden declined to comment further on the top-secret operation until it is over.
The Institute for the Study of War said the incursion is unlikely to shift the dynamics of the conflict.
“Russian authorities will likely remain extremely averse to pulling Russian military units engaged in combat from (Donetsk) and will likely continue deploying limited numbers of irregular forces to Kursk … due to concerns about further slowing the tempo of Russian operations in these higher priority directions,” it said late Tuesday.
These cities had the worst traffic in 2023
These cities had the worst traffic in 2023
Few things are more frustrating than sitting in bumper-to-bumper traffic. You’re late, you’re stuck, and you’re wasting time and gas. The average U.S. driver lost 42 hours to traffic delays in 2023, according to Inrix’s latest Global Traffic Scorecard. While that’s more than the average 40-hour workweek, it’s a marked improvement from recent years. It’s 18% lower than the 51 hours lost on average in 2022 and less than half of the 99 hours lost before the COVID-19 pandemic in 2019.
Still, trends across the country after the pandemic continue to contribute to congestion. Remote work has led to a longer stretch of high-traffic hours instead of the usual pre-9 a.m. and post-5 p.m. rush hour surges—and less predictable peaks at that. “On any given day, everybody might be going into the office and no one is expecting it,” David Schrank, a senior research scientist at Texas A&M Transportation Institute, told The Hill in June 2024. “What if next Monday everybody gets called in? Then boom—it’s gridlock.” On top of that, truck-related congestion has increased with the continued rise of e-commerce and home delivery, with one truck equaling two to three cars on the road.
City planning plays a major role in managing traffic. Some have explored using tolls to unclog roadways. The famously congested arteries of New York City worsened post-pandemic with less space due to increased bike lanes and the rise of rideshare and outdoor dining. A $15 toll for daytime drivers heading into a portion of Manhattan was scheduled to go into effect in June 2024, aimed to reduce traffic by 17%. However, the plan was halted indefinitely amid competing political pressures to ease the sky-high cost of living. The notoriously congested Los Angeles is also considering congestion pricing, projecting to put a plan into practice by 2028. Though the City of Angels has a new mass transit system and is increasing bicycle lanes, its roads remain swollen.
To see where congestion is the biggest problem nationwide, Stacker ranked the 25 cities in the U.S. with the most time lost per driver due to congestion, according to data from Inrix. Stacker’s analysis includes how much delays cost drivers based on median hourly wages in each metro area, per the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and comparisons to pre-COVID-19 pandemic hours lost, measured in 2019. Inrix calculated commute times by looking exclusively at the time it takes to get to and from major employment centers based on anonymized GPS data. Downtown speed is the speed at which a commuter should expect to travel 1 mile into the city’s downtown or central business area during peak morning hours, and the first quarter of 2024 versus the first quarter of 2023 metric is the change in travel times during those two periods.
Read on to find out which city topped 100 hours lost on average per driver and how traffic patterns have started to take shape in 2024.
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#25. San Antonio
– Time lost per driver due to congestion, 2023: 35 hours
— Change from pre-COVID: +17%
— Change from Q1 2023 to Q1 2024: +1%
– 2023 cost per driver: $607
– 2023 city-wide cost: $625 million
– Average downtown speed: 19 mph
Canva
#24. New Orleans
– Time lost per driver due to congestion, 2023: 37 hours
— Change from pre-COVID: +9%
— Change from Q1 2023 to Q1 2024: -2%
– 2023 cost per driver: $641
– 2023 city-wide cost: $329 million
– Average downtown speed: 14 mph
GagliardiPhotography // Shutterstock
#23. King of Prussia, Pennsylvania
– Time lost per driver due to congestion, 2023: 53 hours
— Change from pre-COVID: -18%
— Change from Q1 2023 to Q1 2024: -5%
– 2023 cost per driver: $918
– 2023 city-wide cost: $9 million
– Average downtown speed: 22 mph
Khairil Azhar Junos // Shutterstock
#22. Denver
– Time lost per driver due to congestion, 2023: 37 hours
— Change from pre-COVID: -11%
— Change from Q1 2023 to Q1 2024: -4%
– 2023 cost per driver: $640
– 2023 city-wide cost: $831 million
– Average downtown speed: 14 mph
Sean Xu // Shutterstock
#21. Austin, Texas
– Time lost per driver due to congestion, 2023: 38 hours
— Change from pre-COVID: -14%
— Change from Q1 2023 to Q1 2024: -3%
– 2023 cost per driver: $663
– 2023 city-wide cost: $632 million
– Average downtown speed: 16 mph
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GagliardiPhotography // Shutterstock
#20. Stamford, Connecticut
– Time lost per driver due to congestion, 2023: 41 hours
— Change from pre-COVID: +12%
— Change from Q1 2023 to Q1 2024: -8%
– 2023 cost per driver: $706
– 2023 city-wide cost: $265 million
– Average downtown speed: 13 mph
arbsimages // Shutterstock
#19. Portland, Oregon
– Time lost per driver due to congestion, 2023: 39 hours
— Change from pre-COVID: -8%
— Change from Q1 2023 to Q1 2024: -2%
– 2023 cost per driver: $679
– 2023 city-wide cost: $665 million
– Average downtown speed: 15 mph
Hrach Hovhannisyan // Shutterstock
#18. Honolulu
– Time lost per driver due to congestion, 2023: 42 hours
— Change from pre-COVID: -3%
— Change from Q1 2023 to Q1 2024: -1%
– 2023 cost per driver: $739
– 2023 city-wide cost: $270 million
– Average downtown speed: 17 mph
Theodore Trimmer // Shutterstock
#17. Dallas
– Time lost per driver due to congestion, 2023: 38 hours
— Change from pre-COVID: +12%
— Change from Q1 2023 to Q1 2024: -3%
– 2023 cost per driver: $658
– 2023 city-wide cost: $2.2 billion
– Average downtown speed: 16 mph
travelview // Shutterstock
#16. Charlotte, North Carolina
– Time lost per driver due to congestion, 2023: 41 hours
— Change from pre-COVID: -10%
— Change from Q1 2023 to Q1 2024: -2%
– 2023 cost per driver: $711
– 2023 city-wide cost: $794 million
– Average downtown speed: 17 mph
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Grindstone Media Group // Shutterstock
#15. Pittsburgh
– Time lost per driver due to congestion, 2023: 43 hours
— Change from pre-COVID: -14%
— Change from Q1 2023 to Q1 2024: -9%
– 2023 cost per driver: $749
– 2023 city-wide cost: $724 million
– Average downtown speed: 20 mph
4kclips // Shutterstock
#14. Baltimore
– Time lost per driver due to congestion, 2023: 44 hours
— Change from pre-COVID: -24%
— Change from Q1 2023 to Q1 2024: -7%
– 2023 cost per driver: $762
– 2023 city-wide cost: $905 million
– Average downtown speed: 13 mph
Sean Pavone // Shutterstock
#13. San Francisco
– Time lost per driver due to congestion, 2023: 45 hours
— Change from pre-COVID: -6%
— Change from Q1 2023 to Q1 2024: -6%
– 2023 cost per driver: $787
– 2023 city-wide cost: $1.3 billion
– Average downtown speed: 12 mph
seand67 // Shutterstock
#12. Nashville, Tennessee
– Time lost per driver due to congestion, 2023: 56 hours
— Change from pre-COVID: -8%
— Change from Q1 2023 to Q1 2024: +1%
– 2023 cost per driver: $985
– 2023 city-wide cost: $852 million
– Average downtown speed: 20 mph
Marcus E Jones // Shutterstock
#11. San Juan, Puerto Rico
– Time lost per driver due to congestion, 2023: 57 hours
— Change from pre-COVID: +14%
— Change from Q1 2023 to Q1 2024: -2%
– 2023 cost per driver: $994
– 2023 city-wide cost: $802 million
– Average downtown speed: 20 mph
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Nina Henry // Shutterstock
#10. Seattle
– Time lost per driver due to congestion, 2023: 58 hours
— Change from pre-COVID: -11%
— Change from Q1 2023 to Q1 2024: -1%
– 2023 cost per driver: $1,010
– 2023 city-wide cost: $1.6 billion
– Average downtown speed: 17 mph
meunierd // Shutterstock
#9. Atlanta
– Time lost per driver due to congestion, 2023: 61 hours
— Change from pre-COVID: -3%
— Change from Q1 2023 to Q1 2024: -4%
– 2023 cost per driver: $1,066
– 2023 city-wide cost: $2.6 billion
– Average downtown speed: 16 mph
Sean Pavone // Shutterstock
#8. Houston
– Time lost per driver due to congestion, 2023: 62 hours
— Change from pre-COVID: +1%
— Change from Q1 2023 to Q1 2024: -1%
– 2023 cost per driver: $1,082
– 2023 city-wide cost: $3.2 billion
– Average downtown speed: 17 mph
Sean Pavone // Shutterstock
#7. Washington DC
– Time lost per driver due to congestion, 2023: 63 hours
— Change from pre-COVID: -9%
— Change from Q1 2023 to Q1 2024: -4%
– 2023 cost per driver: $1,095
– 2023 city-wide cost: $2.7 billion
– Average downtown speed: 11 mph
Sean Pavone // Shutterstock
#6. Philadelphia
– Time lost per driver due to congestion, 2023: 69 hours
— Change from pre-COVID: +2%
— Change from Q1 2023 to Q1 2024: -9%
– 2023 cost per driver: $1,209
– 2023 city-wide cost: $2.9 billion
– Average downtown speed: 11 mph
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f11photo // Shutterstock
#5. Miami
– Time lost per driver due to congestion, 2023: 70 hours
— Change from pre-COVID: +18%
— Change from Q1 2023 to Q1 2024: -1%
– 2023 cost per driver: $1,219
– 2023 city-wide cost: $3.1 billion
– Average downtown speed: 14 mph
Bilanol // Shutterstock
#4. Boston
– Time lost per driver due to congestion, 2023: 88 hours
— Change from pre-COVID: -1%
— Change from Q1 2023 to Q1 2024: -10%
– 2023 cost per driver: $1,543
– 2023 city-wide cost: $2.9 billion
– Average downtown speed: 10 mph
f11photo // Shutterstock
#3. Los Angeles
– Time lost per driver due to congestion, 2023: 89 hours
— Change from pre-COVID: -4%
— Change from Q1 2023 to Q1 2024: -5%
– 2023 cost per driver: $1,545
– 2023 city-wide cost: $8.3 billion
– Average downtown speed: 19 mph
JW.photography31 // Shutterstock
#2. Chicago
– Time lost per driver due to congestion, 2023: 96 hours
— Change from pre-COVID: +18%
— Change from Q1 2023 to Q1 2024: -8%
– 2023 cost per driver: $1,672
– 2023 city-wide cost: $6.1 billion
– Average downtown speed: 11 mph
Dennis MacDonald // Shutterstock
#1. New York City
– Time lost per driver due to congestion, 2023: 101 hours
— Change from pre-COVID: +11%
— Change from Q1 2023 to Q1 2024: -11%
– 2023 cost per driver: $1,762
– 2023 city-wide cost: $9.1 billion
– Average downtown speed: 11 mph
Story editing by Jaimie Etkin. Copy editing by Paris Close. Photo selection by Ania Antecka.
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Volodymyr TVERDOKHLIB // Shutterstock
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Publish date : 2024-08-14 12:14:00
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