Ukraine’s Zelensky acknowledges offensive in Russia

BBC:

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has acknowledged, for the first time, that his military is conducting an offensive inside Russia’s western Kursk region.

In his nightly televised address on Saturday, Mr Zelensky said Ukraine’s military is pushing the war “onto the aggressor’s territory.”

This comes five days after Ukraine began its operation, which has taken Russia by surprise and prompted mass evacuations across both sides of the border.

In Ukraine, explosions were reported in the capital Kyiv and in the Sumy region in the early hours of Sunday.

Kyiv mayor Vitali Klitschko said air defence units are “operating” and air raid alerts continue in the city. Writing on the Telegram messaging app he warned civilians to stay in shelters.

Kyiv, its surrounding region and all of eastern Ukraine are under air alert, the country’s air force said.

In his Saturday address, President Zelensky thanked Ukraine’s “warriors”, and said he had discussed the operation in Russia with the country’s senior military commander Oleksandr Syrsky.

“Ukraine is proving that it can indeed restore justice and ensure the necessary pressure on the aggressor,” he added.

Reports say Ukrainian troops are threatening to seize one regional town as they fight more than 10km (six miles) inside Russia – the deepest advance since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

At least 13 people were injured – two seriously – in Kursk in the early hours of Sunday, the region’s acting governor Alexei Smirnov said.

More than 76,000 people have already been evacuated from the border area, according to Russia’s state Tass news agency, and Mr Smirnov said on Sunday he had ordered officials to speed up the operation to get civilians to safety.

Russia’s National Counter-Terrorism Committee imposed a “counter-terrorism operation” regime across three regions on Friday in response to Ukraine’s surprise cross-border incursion.

This means authorities in the border regions of Kursk, Belgorod and Bryansk regions can restrict the movement of people and vehicles and use phone tapping among other measures.