Zelenskyy confirms Ukrainian troops are fighting in Russia

August 11, 2024 Vaseline blog 0

Zelenskyy confirms Ukrainian troops are fighting in Russia

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenksyy has acknowledged for the first time that his military forces are conducting an offensive in Russia’s western Kursk region, with local Russian officials calling for evacuations in an assault that marks a change in the war’s status quo and a new challenge to the Kremlin .

The unprecedented assault began on Tuesday, when up to 1,000 troops entered the Kursk region, according to Russian reports.

Battles were still raging into Sunday with Moscow bombing its own land in an attempt to contain Ukraine’s largest incursion into Russian territory since the start of the war.

In Ukraine, the country continues to battle on domestic fronts as Russia launched a deadly air attack on Kyiv.

A photo posted Sunday on the official Telegram account of Kursk Mayor Igor Kutsak of a car and residential building destroyed by a missile attack in Kursk. AFP photo / Telegram account @glavaigorkutsak.HANDOUT / AFP – Getty Images

Ukraine had remained tightlipped on the extent of its advance, but during a video address on Saturday Zelenskyy said his military was pushing into “the aggressor’s territory.”

“Ukraine is proving that it is really able to bring justice and guarantees exactly the kind of pressure that is needed — pressure on the aggressor,” Zelenskyy said.

The attack has already upset the established norms of Moscow’s 30-month invasion of Ukraine, where Kyiv has struggled to defend its territory.

Russian President Vladimir Putin called the rare Ukrainian incursion into Russian territory “a major provocation.”

More than 76,000 people have been evacuated from the Kursk region, the local emergency ministry said Saturday, according to state news agency TASS, as Russian Federal authorities declared a state of national emergency amid reports of civilian casualties.

On Saturday, Russia imposed a sweeping security regime in three border regions, giving security services powers to restrict the movement of people and vehicles, and use phone-tapping among other measures.

The security measures are intended “to ensure the safety of citizens and suppress the threat of terrorist acts by enemy sabotage and reconnaissance units,” according to the National Counter-Terrorism Committee.

Belarus, a staunch ally of Russia, has also sent more troops to its border with Ukraine and said Saturday that Ukrainian drones had violated its airspace.

Top Russian general Valery Gerasimov boasted last week that Ukrainian troops had been stopped, but Russia is yet to report pushing Kyiv’s forces back across the border.

Kursk governor Aleksei Smirnov said Sunday morning that people had been injured as fighting appeared to continue through Saturday night. Russia’s defense ministry added that it had destroyed 14 Ukrainian drones and four ballistic missiles overnight over the Kursk region.

Residents leave an apartment building damaged by Ukrainian shelling in Kursk on Sunday.AP

But advances into Russia come at a time when Ukrainian forces continue to struggle on several longstanding conflict zones within its own borders.

On Sunday, a 4-year-old boy and his 35-year-old father were killed as debris from a downed Russian weapon fell on their house near the capital Kyiv, according to Ukrainian officials.

Kyiv Major Vitaliy Klitschko warned civilians early on Sunday to stay in shelters.

“Air defense units operating, air raid alert continues,” he wrote on Telegram.

Following the attack, Zelenskyy’s chief of staff Andriy Yermak said it was “necessary to destroy” Russia’s military infrastructure because the enemy does not accept other arguments.”