In his evening speech posted on the Telegram service, Zelenskyj states that the regime in Kyiv is achieving its strategic goals with the offensive in the Russian border region.
At the same time, he asks the international supporters to allow Ukraine to carry out long-range attacks against targets inside Russia.
– The bolder the partners’ decisions, the less Putin can do, says the president.
Respects international law
Earlier in the day, Zelenskyy stressed that Ukrainian forces adhere strictly to international law and international conventions during the advance in Kursk.
Ukraine has no plans to retain Russian territory, and will not harm the Russian population in Kursk while the area is occupied, according to the country’s authorities.
Ukraine says that humanitarian aid has been prepared for the civilian population in Kursk, and Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk states that there are plans to create humanitarian corridors so that civilians can go to Russia or Ukraine.
The Ukrainians envisage a so-called security zone where humanitarian aid will also be organised, writes Vereshchuk on Telegram. She adds that international aid organizations such as the UN and the Red Cross should be given access.
Military administration
On Wednesday, Zelenskyj led a meeting about the security and humanitarian situation in Kursk, where Ukrainian forces have been on a surprise offensive for a week. Among other things, he discussed the possibility of establishing a military administration in the area.
That Ukraine is concerned with respecting international law and human rights goes back to the atrocities committed by Russian forces in the areas they occupied during the advance towards Kyiv in the spring of 2022.
At that time, a large number of civilians were mistreated and killed, among other things, in the suburb of Butsha outside Kyiv before the Russian forces were forced to withdraw. There have also been many reports of imprisonment, torture and disappearances in Russian-occupied areas of Donbas.
Taking prisoners of war
On Wednesday, Ukrainian forces advanced 1 to 2 kilometers further in Kursk, defense chief General Oleksandr Syrskyj said in a video posted on Zelenskyi’s Telegram account.
Ukrainian forces also took over 100 Russian prisoners of war, who Syrskyj said will be exchanged for Ukrainian prisoners of war later. Earlier in the offensive, large numbers of prisoners of war were also taken.
Ukraine is also said to have destroyed a Russian Su-34 aircraft of a type used to fire glide bombs at Ukraine.
Close to a thousand square kilometers
As many as 10,000 Ukrainian soldiers with armored and artillery support may be involved in the surprise attack on Kursk, which began on Tuesday last week.
Syrskyj claims that Ukraine has taken control of around 1,000 square kilometers in the Kursk region. Russian authorities admit that the Ukrainians have advanced in Kursk, but say that the areas they have taken control of are not as large as they say.
In an analysis by the French news agency AFP of data from the American think tank The Institute for the Study of War (ISW), it was concluded that the Ukrainians had taken control of around 800 square kilometers on Monday.
Russia has declared a state of emergency in the border areas and evacuated around 132,000 people from the Kursk and Belgorod regions. They have plans to evacuate a further 59,000.
Unclear motive
Ukraine did not notify its allies of the advance in advance, and it is clear what the motive was. Reasons that have been mentioned are the desire to force Russia to transfer forces from the front in Ukraine, to undermine the Russian regime politically and to obtain better cards before any peace negotiations.
But on Wednesday, the Foreign Ministry in Moscow said that Ukraine, with its offensive on Russian territory, has contributed to peace talks being put on hold for a long time.
In the past, Russia has set as a condition for negotiations that a peace agreement must involve Russia taking over large areas in eastern Ukraine.
#Zelenskyy #asks #launch #longrange #attacks #Russia
2024-08-15 02:02:34
