Thousands of Ukrainian troops are taking part in the offensive aimed at destabilising Russia by exposing its weaknesses, a top Ukrainian official told AFP, as the invasion enters its sixth day.
“We are on the offensive. Our aim is to escalate the enemy’s position, inflict maximum damage and destabilise the situation in Russia because they are unable to defend their border,” the security official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
The Russian military said about 1,000 Ukrainian troops were deployed in the cross-border incursion that began on Tuesday, and it appeared to have taken the Kremlin by surprise, allowing Ukrainian forces to penetrate Russian defence lines.
Asked if the figure of 1,000 was correct, the official said, “It is much more… thousands”.
After days of official silence, President Volodymyr Zelensky acknowledged the invasion for the first time in his nightly address on Saturday, saying Kiev was “pushing the war into the territory of the aggressor.”
Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022 and has continued the offensive, occupying large parts of eastern and southern Ukraine and launching daily missile and drone attacks on Ukrainian cities.
After recapturing large areas in 2022, the Ukrainian military is largely on the back foot and struggling with manpower and weapons supplies.
But Ukrainian troops stormed across the border on Tuesday, marking Kiev’s biggest and most successful offensive so far in the conflict.
Its troops have advanced several kilometres, forcing Russia’s military to bring in reserves and additional equipment – although neither side has given precise details about the forces committed.
Russia has evacuated thousands of civilians from the region and Ukraine has also evacuated thousands of people from the Sumy region across the border.
Ukraine’s morale boosted
Speaking late Saturday after weeks of Russian advances in eastern Ukraine, a Ukrainian official said the operation had “greatly boosted our morale, that of the Ukrainian military, the state and society.”
“This operation has shown that we can move forward aggressively,” the official said.
“The Russians appear to be having problems coordinating and preparing for action,” he said.
But he said there had so far been little impact on the fighting in the east.
“The situation is basically unchanged. They continue to exert pressure in the east; they are not withdrawing troops from the region,” he said, adding only that “the intensity of Russian attacks has decreased slightly.”
The official said Ukrainian troops would respect international humanitarian law while on Russian territory and that they had no plans to reoccupy areas they currently occupy.
“There is no idea of annexation… We are acting strictly in accordance with international law,” he said, comparing it to alleged violations by Russian troops in the occupied territory.
Asked if seizing the Kursk nuclear power plant near the border was also a goal, he said: “We will see how the Kursk operation progresses.”
He said, “We will not create any problem for nuclear security. We can guarantee this.”
The International Atomic Energy Agency has urged both sides to “exercise maximum restraint to avoid a nuclear accident with the potential for serious radiological consequences”.
Western partners ‘indirectly’ involved
The White House said Wednesday that it was contacting Ukraine to learn more about the “objectives” of the intrusion.
President Joe Biden in May allowed Kiev to use U.S.-supplied weapons against targets across the Russian border to thwart Moscow’s growing pressure on the Kharkiv region.
But White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said “nothing has changed” in US policy discouraging broad strikes inside Russia.
Asked if Western partners were kept in the dark about the Ukraine invasion, the official said that was “false.”
“Given the active use of Western weapons, it appears that our Western partners have also indirectly played a role in planning this,” he said.
The official said he expected Russia would “ultimately” succeed in stopping Ukrainian forces in Kursk and would retaliate with massive missile attacks on “decision-making centers” in Ukraine.
Across the border from Kursk, the Sumy region of Ukraine is already under intense bombardment.
A man and his four-year-old son were killed in a missile attack overnight near the Ukrainian capital Kyiv, emergency services said.
Explosions rocked the centre and east of Kiev on Saturday night after the Ukrainian air force said two Russian missiles were heading towards the city.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
