Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Sunday mentioned Ukraine’s military was nonetheless combating in Russia’s Kursk a day after Moscow claimed the “full liberation” of its western area.
Kyiv had hoped it might use land within the Kursk area as a bargaining chip in future peace talks with Russia, which has seized components of jap and southern Ukraine since launching its offensive in February 2022.
“Our military continues to actively defend the designated areas of the Kursk and Belgorod regions,” Zelensky mentioned on Telegram, including that the scenario remained troublesome in lots of areas together with Kursk.
Russia mentioned on Saturday it had captured Gornal, the final settlement that was underneath Ukrainian management in its border Kursk area, the place Kyiv launched a shock offensive in August 2024.
Yet hours later Ukraine’s military denied its forces had been pressured out, branding Russia’s declare as “propaganda tricks”.
“The situation on the front lines and the actual activities of the Russian army prove that the current pressure on Russia to end this war is not enough,” Zelensky mentioned, calling for elevated stress on Russia to create extra alternatives for “real diplomacy”.
– Trump assembly –
His feedback come a day after Zelensky mentioned a possible ceasefire with US President Donald Trump on the sidelines of Pope Francis’s funeral on the Vatican.
After their temporary speak in St Peter’s Basilica Trump solid doubt over whether or not Russian President Vladimir Putin needed an finish to the warfare, which has devastated swathes of jap Ukraine and killed tens of 1000’s of individuals.
The following evening, Russia launched drone and missile assaults, killing 4 folks in areas throughout jap Ukraine and wounding greater than a dozen.
Russian Chief of Staff Valery Gerasimov particularly praised the “heroism” of the North Korean troopers who fought within the Kursk marketing campaign, admitting their participation within the battle for the primary time.
Several Russian navy bloggers who intently monitor the battle mentioned combating was nonetheless ongoing across the forests on the border between Russia and Ukraine.
A neighborhood Russian military commander in Kursk additionally mentioned the military was nonetheless conducting operations within the area, in accordance with a state TV broadcast aired on Sunday.
– ‘Buffer zone’ –
In August 2024, the Ukrainian military rolled on Kursk — as soon as the positioning of a key World War II tank battle — in an unprecedented counter-offensive on Russian soil, which included the seizure of a pumping station by means of which Russian gasoline used to move to Europe.
But Moscow has since then pressured Kyiv’s troopers on the defensive, step by step recapturing a lot of the area.
After Ukraine was quickly stripped of key US intelligence in March 2025, Russia redoubled its efforts, together with by means of a shock covert operation utilizing an underground gasoline pipeline, in accordance with the Institute for the Study of War.
Russia has mentioned it’ll preserve advancing within the 4 Ukrainian areas it claimed to have annexed in 2022 after Kursk’s recapture.
And Moscow was planning to create a “buffer zone” in Ukraine’s Sumy area, which borders Russia, in accordance with Gerasimov.
Russia holds about 20 % of Ukraine’s territory, together with the Crimean peninsula which Moscow annexed in 2014.
Source: www.anews.com.tr