WESTERN PERSPECTIVE

Kursk attack will pressure Russia and 'restore justice,' Zelenskiy says

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Ukraine had launched an incursion into Russian territory to "restore justice" and pressure Moscow's forces, in his first acknowledgement of Kyiv's surprise offensive into the western Kursk region.

Moscow's forces on Sunday were in their sixth day of intense battle against Kyiv's largest incursion into Russian territory since the start of the war, which left southwestern parts of Russia vulnerable before reinforcementstarted arriving.

Russian authorities rushed to evacuate residents and imposed a sweeping security regime in three border regions on Saturday, after the attack which military analysts say caught the Kremlin off-guard. Belarus, a staunch ally of Moscow, also sent more troops to its border with Ukraine, accusing Kyiv of violating its air space.

In his nightly video address, Zelenskiy said he had discussed the operation with top Ukrainian commander Oleksandr Syrskyi, vowing to respond in kind after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of its neighbour in February 2022.

"Today, I received several reports from Commander-in-Chief Syrskyi regarding the front lines and our actions to push the war onto the aggressor's territory," he said late on Saturday.

"Ukraine is proving that it can indeed restore justice and is ensuring the exact kind of pressure that is needed - pressure on the aggressor."

Russia's defence ministry said on Sunday it had destroyed 14 Ukrainian drones and four Tochka-U tactical ballistic missiles overnight over the Kursk region, and 18 drones over other Russian regions that Ukraine frequently attacks.

In a statement, it called the ground incursion "barbaric" and said it made no military sense.

Ukraine has at most occupied several tens of square kilometres of Russian territory without laying claim to it, while Russia controls more than 100,000 sq km of Ukraine's internationally recognised territory.

Russia's top general, Valery Gerasimov, said on Wednesday the attacks had been halted, but Russia has not pushed the Ukrainian forces back over the border.

Russian military bloggers said the situation had stabilised after Russia's reinforcements, though they said Ukraine was swiftly building up forces.

INJURIES AND EVACUATIONS

Zelenskiy said on Sunday Russia had launched nearly 2,000 cross-border strikes on Ukraine's Sumy region from the region of Kursk this summer and that such strikes deserved a Ukrainian response.

"Artillery, mortars, drones. We also record missile strikes, and each such strike deserves a fair response," the Ukrainian leader said.

Earlier, Kursk officials said 13 people were injured in the city after debris from a destroyed Ukrainian missile fell onto a nine-storey residential building.

An image posted by Kursk's mayor showed flames rising through a shattered apartment block surrounded by charred debris.

It was not clear whether there was further damage. Moscow and Kyiv rarely disclose the full extent of damage inflicted by attacks on them unless there are injuries or damage to residential buildings.

Alexei Smirnov, Kursk's acting governor, ordered local authorities to speed up the evacuation of civilians in areas at risk. On Saturday, Russia's TASS state news agency reported that more than 76,000 people had been evacuated.

Kyiv and Moscow deny targeting civilians in their attacks in the war, which has killed thousands of people and displaced millions of Ukrainians, and has no end in sight.

Russian military bloggers say fighting is taking place as deep as 20 km (12 miles) inside the Kursk region, prompting some of them to question why Ukraine was able to pierce the Kursk region so easily.

A few dozen Russian soldiers, including fighters from Chechnya, who were captured allegedly in Kursk were shown in a video posted by "I want to live," a project which is linked to Ukraine's military spy agency. Reuters could not immediately verify the video.

After a father and his 4-year-old son were killed near Kyiv in what Zelenskiy said was a Russian air attack using a North Korean missile, the Ukrainian leader asked Western partners for "strong decisions" allowing his troops to strike deep inside Russia with Western weapons.

"When Ukraine's long-range capabilities have no limits, this war will definitely have a limit," Zelenskiy wrote on X.

Russian Human Rights Commissioner Tatyana Moskalkova said she had sent an appeal to the United Nations demanding it condemn Ukraine's actions in Kursk.

In a Telegram post, Moskalkova said she was asking the U.N. Human Rights commissioner to "take measures to prevent gross mass violations of human rights".

RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVE

Aftermath of night shelling: what is known about situation in Kursk region

Debris from a Ukrainian missile fell on a residential building in Kursk on Sunday night, injuring 13 people.

The Russian army is continuing its operation to destroy Ukrainian armed groups in the border areas of the Kursk region. The head of the Belovsky district of the Kursk region called on residents to remain calm after sabotage groups entered the territory.

TASS has assembled all of the main facts about the events in the region.

Situation in Kursk region

- The situation in the Belovsky district of the Kursk region after the entry of Ukrainian sabotage and reconnaissance groups is stable, but tense, the head of the district Nikolay Volobuyev reported.

- Volobuyev called on residents to remain calm. He asked citizens who left the territory of the Belovsky district to remain in the places where they arrived.

- He recommended that those who want to leave the district contact the heads of village councils, the administration of the Belovsky district, or call 112.

- The situation in the Lgovsky district of the Kursk region is stable as of Sunday morning, the head of the district, Sergey Korostelev assured.

Consequences of the shelling of Kursk

- Pieces of a downed Ukrainian missile fell on a residential building in Kursk at night.

- Later, the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Emergency Situations for the Kursk region announced that the fire that broke out there as a result of the incident has been extinguished.

- There are no casualties after the fall of missile debris on a nine-storey residential building in the Zheleznodorozhny district of Kursk, said the acting governor of the region, Alexey Smirnov.

- 13 people were injured, two of them are in serious condition.

- They were taken to hospital.

- The city mayor Igor Kutsak announced that the residents of the house will be evacuated to a temporary accommodation point located in a camp outside the city.

- The Kursk authorities have begun compiling lists of residents of a nine-storey building in the Zheleznodorozhny district who were injured as a result of the fall of debris from a Ukrainian missile on Sunday night.

- A special commission will estimate the damage.

Border operation

- Russian air defense systems destroyed four Ukrainian Tochka-U missiles over the Kursk region overnight.

- Russian military personnel destroyed a T-80 tank of the Ukrainian armed forces by using a Lancet loitering munition.

- Crews of Su-25 fighter aircraft, Ka-52 helicopters, as well as crews of T-72B3M tanks of the Russian troops destroyed a concentration of manpower, mobile armored groups, and automobile military equipment of the enemy in the border area of the region, the Defense Ministry reported.

- Russian Armed Forces FPV drone operators neutralized the heavy Baba Yaga drone.

- Russian National Guard fighters destroyed a tank and two armored vehicles in the Kursk region.

Assistance to residents

- About 80 tons of humanitarian aid collected from different regions of the country have been delivered to residents of the Kursk region.

- Russian Human Rights Commissioner Tatyana Moskalkova sent an appeal to the UN demanding that it condemn the actions of the Ukrainian armed forces in the Kursk region in connection with the violation of human rights.

Reuters/Tass