The Ukrainian operation within the Russian Kursk region is a component of a broader military, political and diplomatic effort geared toward moving Russia toward a “just peace,” said President Volodymyr Zelensky.
“Everything we do is aimed at forcing Russia to be ready for a just peace,” Zelensky told Indian journalists in Kyiv on Sunday, in accordance with his telegram. Ukraine has taken control of two more settlements within the Kursk region, he said in a every day video message.
The Ukrainian President also discussed with the media representatives the planned second peace summit of Ukraine, his Meeting with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday and the hoped-for integration of Kyiv into the European Union.
Ukrainian forces made a surprise incursion into Russia’s Kursk region this month. On Saturday, Zelensky said the move was made to guard the northeastern Sumy region and capture Russian soldiers fighting for Prisoner of war exchanged.
Read more: Selenskyj: Kursk operation goes in accordance with plan
Putin received reports on Saturday night from at the very least five commanders who were involved in combat operations on Russian territory on the border with Ukraine, the Kremlin said on Sunday.
Ukrainian forces claim to regulate an area of greater than 1,250 square kilometers (483 square miles) in the primary foreign military offensive in Russia since World War II.
The Russian Defense Ministry said in a situation report that its troops continued to repel Ukrainian offensive efforts in several settlements within the Kursk region. Thousands of residents have fled the region in recent weeks.
“Reconnaissance and search operations continue to identify and destroy enemy sabotage groups in forest areas that attempted to penetrate deep into Russian territory,” the ministry said.
The Kremlin released a video of Putin’s meeting with Valery Gerasimov, chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces, on Saturday. It was unclear when the meeting took place.
Ukrainian intelligence also observed a major concentration of Belarusian military personnel, in addition to artillery and air defense forces within the Gomel region near Ukraine’s northern border, the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said in an emailed statement.
Ukraine called on Belarus to avoid “tragic mistakes under pressure from Moscow” and withdraw troops to a distance inaccessible to Belarusian systems.
