Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Saturday indirectly acknowledged for the first time that Ukraine is conducting a military offensive in Russian territory amid Moscow’s reports that forces have launched attacks in the Kursk region since last week.
“Ukraine is proving that it really knows how to restore justice and guarantees exactly the kind of pressure that is needed ... pressure on the aggressor,” he said, referring to Russia.
He did not elaborate on the nature of the military operation and did not say whether it was occurring in Russian territory.
The exact aims of the operation remain unclear, and Ukrainian military officials have not commented on the matter. Military experts have said that it is likely intended to draw Russian reserves away from the intense fighting in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region, while a presidential adviser suggested that it may strengthen Kyiv’s hand in any future negotiations with Russia.
“We have no doubt that the organizers and perpetrators of these crimes, including their foreign curators, will be held accountable for them,” she stated. “Russia’s tough response will not take long.”
The Russian military has said that fighting with Ukrainian forces in Kursk had been taking place since Aug. 6, which Russian President Vladimir Putin has termed as a “large-scale provocation.”
Kyiv and Moscow deny targeting civilians in their attacks in the war, which has killed thousands of people and displaced millions of Ukrainians and has no end in sight.
Early on Sunday, Kursk officials said 13 people were injured in the city after debris from a destroyed Ukrainian missile fell onto a nine-story residential building. An image posted by Kursk’s mayor showed flames rising through a shattered apartment block surrounded by charred debris.
Alexei Smirnov, Kursk’s acting governor, ordered local authorities to speed up the evacuation of civilians in areas at risk. On Saturday, Russian state news agencies reported that more than 76,000 people had been evacuated.
Russian Human Rights Commissioner Tatyana Moskalkova said she had sent an appeal to the United Nations demanding it condemn Ukraine’s actions in Kursk. In a Telegram post, Moskalkova said she was asking the U.N. Human Rights commissioner to “take measures to prevent gross mass violations of human rights.”
Russian military bloggers say fighting is taking place as deep as 12 miles inside the Kursk region, prompting some of them to question why Ukraine was able to pierce the Kursk region so easily.
“Ukrainian forces’ rate of confirmed advances in Kursk Oblast has slowed following the reported introduction of various Russian military units in Kursk Oblast,” it said, but added the cross-border operation “threatens the Kremlin with a potential political crisis regarding causalities among Russian conscripts.”
“Russian opposition and social media outlets began disseminating initial complaints from the family members of Russian conscripts on Aug. 10 about the involvement of Russian conscripts in the Russian border defense operations,” the institute noted.
“At this juncture, I would like to appeal to all sides to exercise maximum restraint in order to avoid a nuclear accident with the potential for serious radiological consequences,” the U.N. agency chief said in a statement
