Ukraine said on Tuesday it would not hold territory seized by Russia in a surprise cross-border invasion and said it would stop the raids if Moscow agreed to a “just peace”.
Last Tuesday Ukrainian forces entered Russia’s Kursk region and seized more than two dozen settlements in the biggest offensive by a foreign force on Russian soil since World War II. Russia said on Tuesday it had repelled new attacks in Kursk.
More than 120,000 people have fled the region and Ukrainian military chief Oleksandr Sirsky said on Monday his troops had taken control of about 1,000 square kilometres of Russian territory.
At least 800 square kilometres of territory was under Ukrainian control as of Monday, according to an AFP analysis of data from the US-based Institute for the Study of War.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Georgy Tykhiy said on Tuesday that Kiev has no interest in “occupying” Russian territory and described Ukraine’s actions as “completely legitimate.”
“The sooner Russia agrees to restore a just peace… the sooner the raids into Russia by the Ukrainian defence forces will stop,” he told reporters.
Meanwhile Ukraine said it was restricting movement in a 20-kilometre zone in the Sumy region on the border with the Kursk region due to an “increase in the intensity of hostilities” and “sabotage” activities.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said it had “thwarted” new attacks by Ukrainian forces in Kursk, which were “an attempt by enemy mobile groups in armored vehicles to penetrate deep into Russian territory.”
Alexander Bortnikov, the head of Russia’s FSB security service, also said in a statement that Ukraine had carried out the attack “with the support of the collective West.”
‘I have seen a lot of deaths’
Since launching its invasion in February 2022, Russia has seized swathes of southern and eastern Ukraine and launched missile and drone attacks on Ukrainian cities.
The invasion of Ukraine was the largest cross-border action since the invasion and took Russia by surprise.
“They did not defend the border,” a Ukrainian soldier who took part in the attack and gave his name as Ruzhik told AFP in the Sumy region.
“They only had anti-personnel mines scattered around trees along the road and a few mines which they managed to quickly spread across the highways,” he said.
A 27-year-old squad leader who gave his name as Faraon gave a brief but straightforward description of the fighting at Kursk.
“I saw a lot of deaths in the first few days. It was horrific at first but then we got used to it,” he told AFP.
“There have been many deaths,” he said, standing beside a forest road leading to the border, without elaborating.
“Russian complacency prevailed,” Ukrainian military analyst Mykola Bilyaskov told AFP.
“Russia took it for granted that because it had the initiative elsewhere, Ukraine would not dare to do the things we have seen,” he said, referring to months-long Russian advances along the border.
ISW data also showed that Russian troops have occupied 1,360 square kilometres of Ukrainian territory since the start of 2024.
‘Sowing discord’
Russian President Vladimir Putin has vowed to “remove” Ukrainian troops.
Putin said in a televised meeting with officials on Monday that “a clear goal of the enemy is to sow discord” and “destroy the unity and cohesion of Russian society.”
Putin also said Ukraine “wants to improve its negotiating position” for any future talks with Moscow.
Regional governor Alexei Smirnov told the same meeting that Ukrainian forces had advanced at least 12 kilometres into the region and that the new front was now 40 kilometres wide.
Russia previously acknowledged that Ukrainian forces had in some places penetrated up to 30 kilometres (20 miles) into Russian territory.
A Ukrainian security official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told AFP over the weekend that Ukraine wanted to “escalate the enemy’s position, inflict maximum damage and destabilise the situation in Russia, as they are unable to defend their border.”
The Ukrainian official said thousands of Ukrainian soldiers were involved in the operation.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
