Zelenskiy Confirms Capture of Swathe of Russian Territory
(Bloomberg) -- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy publicly confirmed for the first time that his forces had seized a swathe of Russian territory, saying the operation was being conducted to protect his country’s border areas.
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Oleksandr Syrskyi, Zelenskiy’s commander-in-chief, said at a Monday meeting with officials and the president that some 1,000 square kilometers (386 square miles) in Russia’s Kursk region had been taken. The operation was continuing and that the situation remained “under our control,” he said in comments made in a Telegram video.
Ukraine now controls “areas from which the Russian military was striking our Sumy region,” Zelenskiy said later Monday in a regular address to the nation. “Our operations are purely a security issue for Ukraine, to free areas near the border from Russian troops.”
Since the action began a week ago, the Ukrainian leader hadn’t until today explicitly acknowledged the incursion into Russia.
Zelenskiy said Russia had delivered more than 2,100 strikes on the Sumy region since June and reiterated a call to Ukraine’s partners to allow it to use long-range weapons against Russian targets.
“This is something that could significantly bring a just end to the war closer and save thousands of Ukrainian lives from Russian terror,” the president said.
(Updates with Zelenskiy’s comments from third paragraph)
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