Russia Zelenskyi sees no Russian successes in the Kursk region

According to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Russian troops have so far made little progress in their attempts to recapture the Kursk region. "They wanted to break through there quickly. [...] We have not seen any serious successes so far," said the head of state during an appearance in the Ukrainian capital Kiev. Moscow intends to deploy 60,000 to 70,000 soldiers in this section. Around 40,000 are currently concentrated there. "Our military is behaving heroically and doing everything necessary for our other military-political steps," said Zelensky, without going into details.

At the beginning of August, Ukrainian troops entered the Russian border area near Kursk and, according to their own statements, took control of around 1,300 square kilometers and around 100 villages, including the small town of Sudzha. Observers assume that fewer territorial gains have been made.

This week, the Russian military made its first serious attempt to drive out the Ukrainian troops. Although the commander of the Chechen special unit Akhmat, Major General Apti Alaudinov, initially reported on his Telegram channel of alleged major successes, there has been no confirmation to date.

Selenskyj: Russia had to deploy troops

Zelenskyi was therefore generally satisfied with the results of the operation so far. "The enemy has been stopped in the Kharkiv region and their advance in the Donetsk region has been slowed down," the President emphasized. Moscow had to transfer forces from the eastern Ukrainian region of Kharkiv and the south to the Kursk region. "The advance (of the Russians) in the Pokrovsk section, as well as in the east as a whole, was even faster before the Kursk operation," said Selensky. According to him, Ukraine has pre-empted attacks by the Russian army in the north-eastern Ukrainian region of Sumy and also in the neighboring Chernihiv region.

Ukraine has been fending off a Russian invasion for over two and a half years with Western help. A good fifth of Ukrainian territory is under Russian control.

SDA