Zelensky confirms that Ukrainian troops are fighting inside Russia

 

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has admitted for the first time that his army is conducting a cross-border offensive in Russia’s western Kursk region.

 

In his video address on Saturday evening, Zelensky said the Ukrainian military was moving the war to the “territory of the aggressor.”

Kiev launched its surprise attack on Tuesday, rapidly advancing more than 10 km (six miles) into Russia – its deepest incursion since Moscow began its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

In Ukraine, the capital Kiev and several other regions were hit by a Russian missile and drone attack in the early hours of Sunday, local officials said.

In his speech, President Zelensky thanked Ukraine’s “warriors” and said that he had discussed the operation in Russia with the country’s military commander-in-chief, Oleksandr Syrskyi.

“Ukraine is demonstrating that it can effectively restore justice and ensure the necessary pressure on the aggressor,” he added.

Russia has so far struggled to halt the Ukrainian advance, with more than 76,000 people evacuated from the Kursk region and an “anti-terrorist” regime imposed in three border areas.

This means that the authorities in the Kursk, Belgorod and Bryansk regions can restrict the movement of people and vehicles and resort to wiretapping, among other measures.

Fighting appeared to be ongoing on Saturday evening, with Kursk Governor Aleksei Smirnov saying on Sunday morning that there were injuries in a “treacherous” Ukrainian attack.

It had previously reported that 13 people were injured late on Saturday evening when the remains of a downed Ukrainian missile hit a multi-storey building in the regional capital Kursk.

The governors of Russia’s neighboring regions, Voronezh and Belgorod, also reported a Ukrainian drone strike overnight. They did not mention any injuries.

In Ukraine, a 35-year-old man and his four-year-old son were killed in the Kiev region when a rocket fragment fell on homes, emergency services said on Sunday.

Three others were injured, including a 13-year-old boy.
Kiev Mayor Vitaliy Klitschko posted on Telegram early Sunday morning that air defense units were “operational” and warned civilians to stay in shelters.

Unknown Ukrainian soldiers spotted at Gazprom gas plant in Russian city of Sudzha: location of video recording verified by BBCUnknown
Ukrainian soldiers spotted at Gazprom gas plant in Russian city of Sudzha: location of video recording verified by BBC
Ukraine’s rare incursion into Russia began on Tuesday morning, when about 1,000 troops, supported by tanks and armored vehicles, entered the Kursk region, Russia said.

Since then, the Ukrainians have reportedly captured several villages and even threatened the regional town of Sudzha.

A video emerged on Friday showing armed Ukrainian soldiers claiming to be in control of the city and a major Russian gas plant owned by the Gazprom company.

BBC Verify has confirmed that the footage does indeed come from the Gazprom plant on the north-western outskirts of Sudzha, around 7km from the border with Ukraine.

The video alone does not support the claim that Ukrainian troops captured the entire city.

Previously, Russian military bloggers had claimed that the city was still in Moscow’s hands.
BBC Verify has confirmed the location of another video posted online on Friday morning.

It shows a damaged, burned and abandoned Russian convoy of 15 vehicles on a road through the town of Oktyabrskoye, about 38 km from the border on the Russian side.

The footage also shows Russian soldiers, some wounded, some possibly dead, among the vehicles.

Moscow has since sent reinforcements, including tanks and rocket launchers, to the Kursk region, saying Russian troops were “continuing to repel the attempted invasion” by Ukrainian forces.

The Russian claim has not been independently verified.
The United Nations nuclear agency on Friday urged both Russia and Ukraine to “exercise maximum restraint” as fighting moved ever closer to the Kursk nuclear power plant, one of the largest such facilities in Russia.

The director of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Rafael Grossi, said that measures must be taken “to avoid a nuclear accident with the potential for serious radiological consequences”.

The power plant is located about 60 km northeast of Sudzha. [BBC]

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