Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who acknowledged the counterattack in direct text for the first time in a nightly video call on Sunday, said Russia had launched 2,000 cross-border attacks from the Kursk side this summer.
“Artillery, mortars, drones. We also register missile strikes, and every such strike deserves a fair response,” Zelensky said.
A senior Ukrainian official told the AFP news agency that thousands of troops were involved in the operation, far more than Russian border guards had initially reported.
The attack on the Kursk region is so far the largest and most successful cross-border attack by the Ukrainian army since Russia invaded Ukraine again in February 2022.
“We are going on the offensive. The goal is to stretch the enemy’s positions, inflict maximum damage and destabilize the situation in Russia because they are unable to protect their border,” the official said.
Russia’s Defense Ministry claimed on Sunday that its forces had “repelled attempts by enemy mobile groups to penetrate deep into Russian territory with armored vehicles,” while admitting that fighting was taking place 25 kilometers and 30 kilometers deep inside Russian territory.
BBC journalists in the Sumy region of Ukraine, bordering the Kursk region, observed the flow of Ukrainian armored personnel carriers and tanks towards Russia.
Aerial photos show Ukrainian tanks engaged in fighting on Russian soil and Russia building new defense lines near the Kursk nuclear power plant.
Ukraine and Russia on Sunday accused each other of starting a fire in the cooling tower of the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant (NPP). Both sides and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) say radiation levels are within normal limits. The IAEA has requested that its team be given immediate access to the cooling tower to assess the situation.
Vladimir Rogov, the representative of the Russian occupiers in the Zaporizhia region, reported on the Telegram website today that the fire has been completely extinguished.
2024-08-13 09:00:42