A senior Ukrainian security official confirmed to Agence France-Presse on Saturday that thousands of Ukrainian soldiers are participating in the incursion into the Russian Kursk region with the aim of "dispersing Moscow's forces and destabilizing the situation in Russia."
The official, who preferred to remain anonymous, added: "We are on the offensive. The goal is to disperse the enemy's positions, inflict maximum losses and destabilize the situation in Russia because they are unable to protect their borders," noting that this operation "raised the morale" of the Ukrainians.
He pointed out that "the Ukrainian incursion into Russia has not yet weakened the Russian offensive in eastern Ukraine, where Moscow has been nibbling away at more territory for several months."
Meanwhile, Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said that air defense systems repelled a Russian air attack targeting the city at dawn. Ukrainian emergency services announced that two people were killed and three others were wounded in the attack.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that Russian forces used a North Korean missile in the attack on Kyiv.
The air forces in Kyiv and eastern Ukraine have been put on alert amid repeated Russian airstrikes and the possibility of ballistic missile attacks on Ukraine.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Saturday that Kyiv was “able to restore justice and put pressure on the aggressor.”
“Today, the commander of the armed forces repeatedly reported on the front, on our movements and on transferring the war to the territory of the aggressor,” Zelenskyy said in his daily address. “Ukraine is proving that it is able to restore justice and put the necessary pressure: pressure on the aggressor.”
Russia’s Defense Ministry said in a statement on Saturday that Russian forces were continuing to confront a Ukrainian incursion into the country.
Russia has imposed a wide-ranging security regime in three border regions and mobilized forces to counter the largest Ukrainian counterattack on Russian territory since the war began in 2022.
Comments