CNN
—
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed that Kiev’s forces were fighting inside Russian soil, days after Ukrainian troops made a surprise incursion across the Russian border into the Russian-held Kursk region in a major embarrassment for the Kremlin.
“Ukraine has proven that it really knows how to restore justice and ensures exactly the necessary pressure – pressure on the aggressors,” Zelenskiy said in an evening address to the nation on Saturday, thanking “all forces” of the Ukrainian armed forces for allowing “the war to be expanded into the territory of the aggressors.”
The statement marked Zelensky’s first public acknowledgement of the incursion and surprised both Russia and Ukraine’s allies. Ukrainian officials remained tight-lipped about the operation for days, even as photos, videos and firsthand reports of Ukrainian troops entering Russian territory began to emerge.
Moscow has scrambled to contain the attack, with Russian authorities carrying out major counterterrorism operations in Kursk and two other border areas and tens of thousands of people being evacuated from the city.
The offensive on Kursk is now in its sixth day and marks a key development in a conflict that has been going on for more than two years.
While Ukraine has repeatedly bombed the Belgorod border area and pro-Ukrainian sabotage groups have conducted limited cross-border attacks, Operation Kursk marked the first time that Ukrainian regular and special forces have invaded Russian territory.
The surprise attack appears to have worked: By Sunday, Russian forces appeared to be struggling to halt the Ukrainian advance and push back Kiev’s forces.
In his next speech on Sunday, Zelensky said thousands of attacks launched on Ukrainian territory from Russia’s Kursk region required a fair response.
“Since the beginning of this summer alone, there have been nearly 2,000 attacks on the Sumy region from districts of the Kursk region – artillery, mortar and drone attacks. We are also recording all missile attacks,” he said, adding that “all such attacks deserve a fair response.”
Recent Ukrainian missile and drone attacks on Russia show that Kiev is acting on President Zelenskyy’s word.
Russia said Sunday it had thwarted a Ukrainian attack that fired drones and Tochka-U tactical missiles. The Russian Defense Ministry said it had destroyed 14 drones and four Tochka-U tactical missiles in the Kursk region, 16 drones in the Voronezh region, three drones in the Belgorod region, and one each in the Bryansk and Oryol regions.
In its latest assessment on Sunday, the Institute for the Study of War (ISW), a U.S.-based conflict monitoring group, said location footage and Russian reports from Saturday showed Ukrainian forces were holding their positions in the area and had even made some advances.
By Friday, Russian authorities had lost control of at least 250 square kilometers of territory, according to multiple independent analyses and a CNN map.
Videos posted on social media appear to show Ukrainian troops taking down the Russian flag in Russia’s Kursk region and replacing it with a Ukrainian flag.
The governor of Kursk Oblast urged authorities on Sunday to speed up evacuations. More than 76,000 people had left their homes in the border area as of Saturday, according to the Russian state news agency TASS.
Russian authorities on Friday imposed a “counter-terrorism posture” in the Kursk, Bryansk and Belgorod regions but stopped short of declaring a state of war or martial law.
ISW said this was likely a deliberate attempt by the Kremlin to downplay the attack to prevent domestic panic and backlash over Russia’s inability to defend its own borders.
“Russian President Putin has refrained from officially declaring a state of war, repeatedly indicating that he does not want to put Russian society on a total war footing, and has refrained from declaring general mobilization as part of a broader effort to stave off domestic discontent that could threaten the stability of (his) regime,” ISW said in an update.
The counterterrorism regime formally gives Russian authorities broader powers, including the ability to monitor phone conversations, restrict communications and restrict people’s movements.
The surprise attack at Kursk, which Putin called a “major provocation,” was a major victory for Kiev, which continues to struggle to hold territory along part of its 1,000-kilometre (620-mile) front line.
Moscow has been pursuing a slow, steady offensive, creeping closer to several strategically important towns and roads in eastern Ukraine in recent weeks.
Moscow launched drone and missile attacks on the Kyiv region early Sunday, local officials said. Officials said a Russian strike killed a 4-year-old boy and his father and seriously injured another child in Brovary, east of the capital.
The attack came after an attack on a supermarket in Kostyantynivka, Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine, left at least 11 people dead and 37 wounded, according to authorities.
“This week alone, the Russian military has launched more than 30 missiles and over 800 guided bombs,” Zelenskiy said in a video statement released on Sunday.
Ukrainian Air Force Commander Mykola Oleschchuk said Russia had attacked Ukraine using weapons including North Korean KN-23 ballistic missiles and Iranian-made Shahed drones, though CNN cannot independently verify the claim.
It has been a deadly summer for Ukrainians, with July being the deadliest month for civilian casualties since October 2022, according to the UN human rights monitor.
The UN Human Rights Monitor in Ukraine (HRMMU) said at least 219 civilians were killed and 1,018 wounded in what it previously called “a wave of deadly missile attacks on populated areas of Ukraine.”
This story was updated Sunday with additional developments.
CNN’s Eve Brennan, Isaac Yee, Radina Zhigova and Olga Vojtovich contributed reporting.
