RFE/With reporting by Reuters and AP
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on August 8 said that Russia brought war to his country and „must feel what it has done” after Russia claimed to have repelled a surprise cross-border advance by Ukraine into its Kursk region.
Zelenskiy did not directly refer to the incursion, which Russia said is in its third day and involves up to 1,000 Ukrainian troops supported by tanks, armored vehicles, and artillery.
He said he has recieved reports from Colonel General Oleksandr Syrskiy, Ukraine’s top military commander, and called the military action „effective” and „exactly what our country needs now.”
Mykhaylo Podolyak, an adviser to Zelenskiy, commented indirectly on the operation earlier on X, saying the root cause of any escalation, shelling, military actions, forced evacuations, and destruction of normal life, „including within Russia’s own territories like #Kursk and Belgorod regions, is solely Russia’s unequivocal aggression.”
„This includes attempts to seize foreign territories and disregard for international law norms that clearly uphold sovereignty and territorial integrity,” Podolyak said on August 8.
Zelenskiy also commented indirectly on the incursion, saying on Telegram, „Russia has brought war to our land and must feel what it has done.”
Without mentioning Kursk he said there had been three reports from Colonel General Oleksandr Syrskiy, Ukraine’s top military commander, and, „The reports are effective. Exactly what our country needs now.”
Russia claimed earlier that Kyiv’s forces fired rockets at civilian and residential targets in the Kursk region amid reports by Russian pro-war bloggers that a number of villages have been captured by Ukrainian forces as they advance into Russian territory.
The acting governor of Kursk, Aleksei Smirnov, declared a state of emergency on August 7 after Russian President Vladimir Putin called the military operation „another large-scale provocation.”
The Russian Defense Ministry in a statement on August 8 said Russia’s Battlegroup North and border guard units had thwarted Ukrainian forces’ attempts to break through the districts of Sudzha and Korenevo.
Earlier, the ministry claimed to have downed six drones and five missiles over the Kursk region and 14 drones in the Belgorod region.
Belgorod regional Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov claimed that a man died and one person was injured in Ukrainian shelling of Shebekino.
Meanwhile, in Ukraine’s eastern region of Donetsk, two civilians were killed on August 8 by Russian shelling of Kostyantynivka, regional Governor Vadym Filashkin said on Telegram.
Russian air strikes in the Sumy region killed two people, including a child, and two more were wounded, said the governor of Sumy, Volodymyr Artyukh.
Russia also said Ukrainian forces penetrated its border near the major natural gas transmission hub at Sudzha. The Sudzha gas transfer and measuring stations in the Kursk region are the only entry point for Russian natural gas into the Ukrainian gas transmission system for onward transport to Europe.
Ukrainian Energy Minister Herman Halushchenko said on August 8 that Ukraine had not been contacted by Russia about the situation with gas transit, but the transit route for Russian gas deliveries to Europe via Ukraine is still functioning.
In addition, the International Atomic Energy Agency said on August 8 that it is aware of developments around Russia’s Kursk nuclear plant and is monitoring the situation, according to Russian news agency RIA Novosti.
Dmitry Medvedev, the former president who is now deputy chief of Russia’s Security Council, has called for Russian troops to press deeper into Ukraine as Moscow claims to have intercepted Ukrainian drones and missiles targeting the Kursk region.
Commenting on the Ukrainian incursion in the Kursk region, Medvedev said Moscow should aim beyond securing the territories that Russia considers its own and urged further advance into Ukraine’s Odesa, Kharkiv, Dnipro, Mykolayiv, and Kyiv regions.
EU spokesman Peter Stano told RFE/RL’s Ukrainian Service that while the bloc does not comment on battlefield operations, it believes „Ukraine has a legal right to defend itself, including striking an aggressor on its territory.”
Meanwhile, U.S. National Security Council spokesman John Kirby on August 7 said the White House had reached out to Ukraine to „get a little better understanding” of the situation in the Kursk region.
State Department spokesman Matthew Miller confirmed on August 7 that Washington’s policy on the use of U.S. weapons by Ukraine across the border or against Russian military facilities had not changed.
The actions taking place „are not a violation of our policy,” Miller added.
With reporting by Reuters and AP
