Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has made a bold and unprecedented move by acknowledging that his military is conducting a cross-border offensive inside Russia’s western Kursk region. In a video address late on Saturday, Zelensky declared that Ukraine’s military was pushing the war onto “the aggressor’s territory”, marking a significant escalation in the ongoing conflict between the two countries.
The surprise attack, launched by Kyiv on Tuesday, has seen Ukrainian forces rapidly advancing more than 10km inside Russia – the deepest raid since Moscow began its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Despite Russia’s efforts to halt the Ukrainian advance, more than 76,000 people have been evacuated from the Kursk region, with a “counter-terror” regime imposed across three border areas to restrict movement and enhance security measures.
The fighting has resulted in casualties on both sides, with reports of injured individuals in the Kursk region following Ukrainian attacks. In Ukraine, a tragic incident claimed the lives of a 35-year-old man and his four-year-old son when a rocket fragment fell on residential houses in the Kyiv region. Three others were wounded, including a 13-year-old child, highlighting the devastating impact of the conflict on civilians.
As the situation continues to unfold, concerns have been raised about the proximity of the fighting to the Kursk nuclear power plant, one of Russia’s largest facilities of its kind. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has urged both Russia and Ukraine to exercise maximum restraint to prevent a potential nuclear accident with serious radiological consequences.
With tensions escalating and the conflict intensifying, the world watches closely as Ukraine’s incursion into Russian territory raises the stakes in an already volatile and dangerous situation. President Zelensky’s bold move has set the stage for a potentially explosive turn of events, with the outcome hanging in the balance as both sides dig in for a protracted and uncertain conflict.
