Since breaching the Russian border in the western region of Kursk on August 6, the Ukrainian armed forces have advanced around 30 kilometers into Russian territory.
This marks the largest Ukrainian
incursion into Russia since the full-scale war between the two countries began in 2022.
Speaking about Kyiv’s Kursk operation, Zelenskyy said in his nightly address that Russia is now facing its own reckoning.
“Russia brought war to others, and now it is coming home… Ukraine has always wanted peace—and we will undoubtedly ensure peace,” he said.
But Vladimir Putin claimed on Monday that Kyiv launched the attack “with the help of its Western masters” to slow down the Russian advance in Eastern Ukraine, where Russian troops have been making slow but steady progress.
John Kirby, the White House strategic communications coordinator, responded to Putin’s remarks, saying: “[T]his is a funny bit of Putin propaganda here, and he’s been clinging to it since the beginning of the war: that he had to go into Ukraine, NATO is surrounding him, and that NATO support and U.S. support for Ukraine just proves it’s the West versus Russia; it’s NATO versus Russia; it’s the U.S. versus Russia.
“... it’s all a bunch of horse-hockey. There’s nothing to it,” he added.
Kirby also said that Russia, not Ukraine, started the war, and Ukraine’s actions are purely defensive in nature.
“This is Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, pure and simple. Always has been since the beginning,” he said, but added. “This is Putin’s war against Russia. And if he doesn’t like it, if it’s making him a little uncomfortable, then there’s an easy solution: He can just get the hell out of Ukraine and call it a day.”
Fighting continues in Kursk
Meanwhile, fighting continues inside Russia, with Ukraine launching fresh drone attacks on Kursk on Tuesday.
On Monday, Ukraine’s top commander, Oleksandr Syrskyi, reported that Ukrainian troops were continuing their advance into Russian territory.
“We continue to conduct an offensive operation in the Kursk region. Currently, we control about 1,000 square kilometers of Russian territory,” he said.
However, the acting governor of Kursk, Alexei Smirnov, said that Ukraine controlled 28 settlements in the region, with the incursion extending about 12 kilometers (7.5 miles) deep and 40 kilometers (25 miles) wide.
In Kursk, 121,000 people had already been evacuated or were in the process of being evacuated, according to local officials. In the neighboring Belgorod region, 11,000 civilians were also evacuated, the region’s governor reported.
Ukrainian forces in Kursk are attempting to encircle Sudzha, where Russian natural gas flows into Ukraine, while major battles are underway near Korenevo, about 22 kilometers (14 miles) from the border, and Martynovka, according to some Russian military bloggers.
