President Volodymyr Zelensky has made his first comments on the advance of Ukrainian troops into the Russian border region of Kursk.
“Russia brought the war to our land, and it should feel what it has done,” Zelensky said in his evening video message.
He did not mention the fighting by Ukrainian soldiers on Russian territory in the Kursk area. “We strive to achieve our goals as soon as possible in peacetime – under just peace conditions. And it will happen,” he said in an English-language transcript of the address.
The adviser to Zelensky’s office, Mykhailo Podolyak, pointed to the international reaction to the Ukrainian attack on the Kursk region. The reaction was “absolutely calm, balanced, objective” and based on the “spirit of international law” and the “principles of conducting a defensive war,” Podolyak posted on Telegram.
Earlier in the day, the European Union had declared that Ukraine has the right to also attack the territory of the aggressor in its defensive struggle against the Russian invasion.
Adviser says Russia is a legitimate target
“The impossible has become possible, and the mythical Russian brutality and excessiveness have now turned against Russia itself,” Podolyak said regarding the situation in Kursk.
A large part of the international community now considers Russia a legitimate target for any operations and weapons, he said.
Ukraine is fighting today not only with the occupying army but also successfully against historically strong pro-Russian sympathies and fears in the West, he said.
Ukraine repeatedly points out that Russia is a defeatable enemy and wants to show with this first invasion of Russia by a foreign army since the end of World War II that the country is vulnerable.
Earlier, according to media in Kiev, Podolyak had explained on television that the battles are meant to strengthen Ukraine’s negotiating position. However, it remains unclear whether Ukraine will be successful in the Kursk region.
Zelensky says Ukraine needs these results
“Ukrainians know how to achieve their goals. And achieving the goals at war was not our choice,” Zelensky said in his video message.
He had been briefed on the situation in the war zone by the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, Oleksandr Syrskyi.
He did not provide details but emphasized that the results were productive and exactly what his country needs right now.
Syrskyi had earlier posted a photo on social media showing him in the staging area – presumably in Sumy at the border, from where Ukrainian soldiers have invaded Russia’s Kursk region.
Meanwhile, in the Kursk region, the battles between Russian and Ukrainian soldiers continued.
According to Russian military bloggers, the Ukrainians are partially consolidating their positions.
Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke of a major provocation by Ukraine. According to Russian military sources, hundreds of Ukrainian soldiers have already been killed and injured, and dozens of tanks and other military equipment have been destroyed. These claims cannot be verified independently.
