Zelenskiy says Ukraine's shock Kursk attack to pressure Russia and
'restore justice'
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[August 12, 2024]
By Vitalii Hnidyi and Oleksandr Kozhukhar
SUMY REGION, Ukraine (Reuters) -President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said
Ukraine had launched an incursion into Russian territory to "restore
justice" and pressure Moscow's forces, in his first acknowledgement of
Kyiv's surprise offensive into the western Kursk region.
Moscow's forces on Sunday were in their sixth day of intense battle
against Kyiv's largest incursion into Russian territory since the start
of the war, which left southwestern parts of Russia vulnerable before
reinforcement started arriving.
Russian authorities rushed to evacuate residents and imposed a sweeping
security regime in three border regions on Saturday, after the attack
which military analysts say caught the Kremlin off-guard. Belarus, a
staunch ally of Moscow, also sent more troops to its border with
Ukraine, accusing Kyiv of violating its air space.
In his nightly video address, Zelenskiy said he had discussed the
operation with top Ukrainian commander Oleksandr Syrskyi, vowing to
respond in kind after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of its
neighbor in February 2022.
"Today, I received several reports from Commander-in-Chief Syrskyi
regarding the front lines and our actions to push the war onto the
aggressor's territory," he said late on Saturday.
"Ukraine is proving that it can indeed restore justice and is ensuring
the exact kind of pressure that is needed - pressure on the aggressor."
Russia's defense ministry said on Sunday it had destroyed 14 Ukrainian
drones and four Tochka-U tactical ballistic missiles overnight over the
Kursk region, and 18 drones over other Russian regions that Ukraine
frequently attacks.
In a statement, it called the ground incursion "barbaric" and said it
made no military sense.
Ukraine has at most occupied several tens of square kilometers of
Russian territory without laying claim to it, while Russia controls more
than 100,000 sq km of Ukraine's internationally recognized territory.
Russia's top general, Valery Gerasimov, said on Wednesday the attacks
had been halted, but Russia has not pushed the Ukrainian forces back
over the border.
Russian military bloggers said the situation had stabilized after
Russia's reinforcements, though they said Ukraine was swiftly building
up forces.
INJURIES AND EVACUATIONS
Zelenskiy said on Sunday Russia had launched nearly 2,000 cross-border
strikes on Ukraine's Sumy region from the region of Kursk this summer
and that such strikes deserved a Ukrainian response.
"Artillery, mortars, drones. We also record missile strikes, and each
such strike deserves a fair response," the Ukrainian leader said.
Earlier, Kursk officials said 13 people were injured in the city after
debris from a destroyed Ukrainian missile fell onto a nine-storey
residential building.
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Sumy region, Ukraine August 11, 2024. REUTERS/Viacheslav Ratynskyi
An image posted by Kursk's mayor showed flames rising through a
shattered apartment block surrounded by charred debris.
It was not clear whether there was further damage. Moscow and Kyiv
rarely disclose the full extent of damage inflicted by attacks on
them unless there are injuries or damage to residential buildings.
Alexei Smirnov, Kursk's acting governor, ordered local authorities
to speed up the evacuation of civilians in areas at risk. On
Saturday, Russia's TASS state news agency reported that more than
76,000 people had been evacuated.
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.
Russian military bloggers say fighting is taking place as deep as 20
km (12 miles) inside the Kursk region, prompting some of them to
question why Ukraine was able to pierce the Kursk region so easily.
A few dozen Russian soldiers, including fighters from Chechnya, who
were captured allegedly in Kursk were shown in a video posted by "I
want to live," a project which is linked to Ukraine's military spy
agency. Reuters could not immediately verify the video.
After a father and his 4-year-old son were killed near Kyiv in what
Zelenskiy said was a Russian air attack using a North Korean
missile, the Ukrainian leader asked Western partners for "strong
decisions" allowing his troops to strike deep inside Russia with
Western weapons.
"When Ukraine's long-range capabilities have no limits, this war
will definitely have a limit," Zelenskiy wrote on X.
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".
(Reporting by Oleksandr Kozhukhar in Kyiv, Ron Popeski in Winnipeg
and Lidia Kelly in Melbourne; Additional reporting by Felix Light in
Tbilisi; Writing by Lidia Kelly and Dan Peleschuk; Editing by
Jacqueline Wong, William Mallard, Ros Russell and Lincoln Feast.)
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