Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has publicly acknowledged for the first time that his troops are active in Russia’s Belgorod region, which borders Ukraine. “We continue to carry out active operations in the border areas on enemy territory, and that is absolutely just – war must return to where it came from,” he said on Monday. His comments also referred to Russia’s Kursk region, where Ukraine still holds a small area after a major offensive last year.
Moscow has since retaken most of the territory. Zelensky said “the main objective” was to protect Ukraine’s Sumy and Kharkiv border regions, and to “ease the pressure” on other parts of the vast front line, particularly in the eastern Donetsk region.
Russia’s military had last month reported Ukrainian attempts to cross over into the Belgorod region – but said such attacks had been rebuffed. The areas in question are only a short distance inside Russian territory. Russian President Vladimir Putin launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, and Moscow currently controls about 20 percent of Ukraine’s territory The Kremlin has rejected United States (US) and European allegations that it is dragging its feet on US President Donald Trump’s push for a ceasefire in the war.
Trump told reporters late on Monday that he was “not happy about what’s going on”, accusing Russia of “bombing like crazy right now”. Zelensky’s home city of Kryvyi Rih held funerals earlier for 20 people, including nine children, who were killed in a Russian missile attack last Friday.
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In his video address late on Monday, Zelensky said he had been briefed by his top commander Gen Oleksandr Syrskyi about the situation on the front, “including our presence in the Kursk and Belgorod regions”. Zelensky thanked several army units defending Ukraine, including the 225th Assault Regiment deployed in the Belgorod region. “Well done, guys! I’m proud of each and every one who is fighting for Ukraine!” the president said.
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He provided no further details. It is his first explicit acknowledgement of Ukrainian troops in Belgorod. On March 18, Zelensky had indirectly confirmed that Ukrainian troops were there.
“There is an operation there,” he said when asked by reporters to comment on a Russian defence ministry statement that Ukrainian troops had unsuccessfully tried to enter the western part of the Belgorod region.—BBC
