Zelensky Confirms Russian Counterattack in Kursk, Saying Kyiv Expected It
The Russians have launched counteroffensive actions, and it’s unfolding as part of our Ukrainian plan, Zelensky said during a news conference in Kyiv alongside Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda.
President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Thursday that Ukrainian forces had anticipated Moscow’s counteroffensive in the Russian region of Kursk, his first comments on the pushback this week, more than a month after Ukraine’s cross-border incursion.
Ukraine’s troops captured an enclave of western Russian territory in a surprise raid that began in early August, a move aimed at wresting the battlefield initiative from Russia including by diverting Moscow’s forces from the eastern front.
Its forces made rapid initial gains before stalling, while the situation around the eastern Ukrainian town of Pokrovsk, which has been the focus of Russia’s main offensive operations in recent weeks, remained perilous.
“The Russians have begun counteroffensive actions. It is going according to our Ukrainian plan,” Zelensky told a news conference in Kyiv with Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda.