President Volodymyr Zelensky He said Ukraine had intruded into Russian territory to “restore justice” and put pressure on Moscow’s forces, his first acknowledgement of Kiev’s surprise offensive in the western Kursk region.
On Sunday, Moscow’s forces were in the sixth day of fierce fighting against Russia. The largest invasion of Kiev Incursions into Russian territory increased from the start of the war, leaving the southwestern parts of Russia vulnerable until reinforcements began to arrive.
Russian authorities on Saturday rushed to evacuate residents in three border regions and imposed a sweeping security crackdown that military analysts say took the Kremlin by surprise. Moscow’s staunch ally Belarus also sent more troops to its border with Ukraine, accusing Kiev of violating its airspace.
In his nightly video address, Zelensky said he had discussed the operation with top Ukrainian commander Oleksandr Sirsky, and vowed to respond in a similar way if Russia launched a full-scale invasion of its neighbour in February 2022.
“Today, I received several reports from Commander-in-Chief Sirsky regarding our actions to advance the battle on the front lines and in the attacker’s sector,” he said late Saturday.
“Ukraine is proving that it can indeed restore justice and it is ensuring exactly the kind of pressure that is needed – pressure on the aggressor.”
Russia’s Defence Ministry said on Sunday it had destroyed 14 Ukrainian drones and four Tochka-U tactical ballistic missiles overnight in the Kursk region, and 18 drones in other Russian regions frequently attacked by Ukraine.
In a statement it described the ground incursion as “barbaric” and said it had no military justification.
Ukraine occupies several tens of thousands of square kilometres of Russian territory without making any claims, while Russia controls more than 100,000 square kilometres of Ukraine’s internationally recognised territory.
Russia’s top general, Valery Gerasimov, said on Wednesday that the attacks had stopped but that Russia had not pushed Ukrainian troops back across the border.
Russian military bloggers said the situation had stabilised following Russian reinforcements, although they added Ukraine He was rapidly building up his army.
Injuries and evacuation
Zelensky said on Sunday that Russia had carried out nearly 2,000 cross-border attacks from the Kursk region on Ukraine’s Sumy region this summer and that Ukraine must respond to such attacks.
“Artillery, mortars, drones. We also record missile attacks, and each such attack must receive an appropriate response,” the Ukrainian leader said.
Earlier, authorities in Kursk said 13 people were injured in the city when debris from a destroyed Ukrainian missile fell on a nine-story residential building.
A photo posted by the mayor of Kursk showed flames rising from a collapsed apartment block surrounded by charred rubble.
It is unclear whether there has been further damage. Moscow and Kiev rarely provide full details of the damage caused by attacks on them, unless there are injuries or damage to residential buildings.
Kursk’s acting governor, Alexei Smirnov, ordered local authorities to speed up the evacuation of civilians in risk areas. On Saturday, Russia’s TASS state news agency reported that more than 76,000 people had been evacuated.
Kiev and Moscow deny targeting civilians in their attacks in the war, which has killed thousands and displaced millions of Ukrainians, and has no end in sight.
Russian military bloggers say fighting is taking place as far as 20 km (12 miles) inside the Kursk region, leading some of them to question how Ukraine was able to enter the Kursk region so easily.
A few dozen Russian soldiers, including fighters from Chechnya, allegedly captured in Kursk were shown in a video posted by a project called “I Want to Live”, which is linked to Ukraine’s military spy agency. Reuters could not immediately confirm the video.
After the deaths of a father and his 4-year-old son near Kyiv in what Zelensky said was a Russian airstrike that used a North Korean missile, the Ukrainian leader called on Western partners to make a “tough decision” allowing their troops to strike deep into Russia with Western weapons.
“While Ukraine’s long-range capabilities have no limits, this war will certainly have a limit as well,” Zelensky wrote on X.
Russian human rights commissioner Tatyana Moskalkova said she had sent an appeal to the United Nations demanding condemnation of Ukraine’s actions in Kursk.
In a Telegram post, Moskalkova said she was urging the U.N. human rights commissioner to “take steps to prevent gross violations of human rights.”