Zelensky Confirms: Troops Fighting Inside Russia!

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has openly acknowledged that Kyiv’s forces are now operating inside Russia, a move that has significantly raised the stakes in the ongoing conflict. The revelation comes amid a surprising and audacious Ukrainian incursion into Russia’s Kursk region, which has sent shockwaves through Moscow and left the Kremlin scrambling to respond.

“Ukraine is proving that it really knows how to restore justice and guarantees exactly the kind of pressure that is needed—pressure on the aggressor,” Zelensky said in his nightly address to the nation on Saturday. He expressed his gratitude to “every unit” of Ukraine’s armed forces for enabling this daring operation, stating that their efforts are crucial in pushing the war into the aggressor’s territory.

This marks the first time Zelensky has officially confirmed the cross-border attack, which has caught both Russian officials and Ukraine’s allies off guard. Ukrainian authorities had been maintaining a tight lid on the operation, even as evidence of Ukrainian troops inside Russian territory began to surface in the form of videos, photographs, and eyewitness accounts.

In response, Moscow has been forced to enact sweeping counterterrorism measures across the Kursk region and two neighboring areas. Russian authorities have evacuated tens of thousands of residents from these regions in an attempt to mitigate the situation, a clear sign of the panic the Ukrainian operation has induced.

The attack on Kursk, now in its sixth day, represents a significant escalation in the conflict, which has dragged on for over two years. While Ukraine has previously launched airstrikes and supported small-scale sabotage operations in Russia’s Belgorod region, the Kursk incursion is the first instance where regular Ukrainian military and special operations forces have entered Russian territory on such a scale.

The element of surprise has worked in Kyiv’s favor. As of Sunday, Russian forces appeared to be struggling to halt the Ukrainian advance, with little success in pushing back the invading troops. According to the Institute for the Study of War (ISW), a U.S.-based conflict monitoring group, Ukrainian forces have managed to hold their positions in Kursk and even make slight advances, as evidenced by geolocated footage and Russian reports from the front lines.

By Friday, independent analysts and CNN’s mapping indicated that Russian forces had lost control over at least 250 square kilometers of territory. Social media has been flooded with videos showing Ukrainian soldiers removing Russian flags in Kursk and replacing them with the Ukrainian flag—a powerful symbol of Ukraine’s boldness in the face of Russian aggression.

The governor of Kursk has urged local authorities to expedite evacuations, with over 76,000 residents having fled their homes as of Saturday, according to the Russian state news agency TASS. In response to the incursion, Moscow has imposed a “counterterrorist operation regime” in the Kursk, Bryansk, and Belgorod regions, though they have stopped short of declaring a state of war or martial law.

The ISW suggests that this cautious approach may be a deliberate effort by the Kremlin to downplay the severity of the situation, aiming to prevent domestic panic and backlash over Russia’s apparent inability to defend its own borders. “Russian President Vladimir Putin has refrained from officially declaring a state of war, has repeatedly demonstrated his unwillingness to transfer Russian society fully to a war-time footing, and has forgone declaring general mobilization as part of wider efforts to prevent domestic discontent that could threaten the stability of (his) regime,” the ISW noted in its latest assessment.

The counterterrorism measures officially grant Russian authorities broader powers, including the ability to monitor communications and restrict the movement of people, reflecting the gravity of the situation from Moscow’s perspective.

As the situation in Kursk continues to unfold, Moscow has also intensified its own military operations. On Sunday, Russian forces launched drone and missile attacks against the Kyiv region. Local officials reported that a four-year-old boy and his father were killed in Brovary, just east of the capital, with another child sustaining serious injuries. This attack followed a devastating strike on a supermarket in Kostiantynivka, located in the Donetsk region, which left at least 11 people dead and 37 injured.

In a video address on Sunday, Zelensky highlighted the ongoing threat posed by Russia, stating, “This week alone, the Russian army launched more than 30 missiles and over 800 guided aerial bombs.” Mykola Oleshchuk, the commander of the Ukrainian Air Force, indicated that Russia has employed a range of weapons in these attacks, including North Korean KN-23 ballistic missiles and Iranian-made Shahed drones, though CNN has not independently verified these claims.

The summer has been particularly deadly for Ukrainians, with July recorded as the most lethal month for civilian casualties since October 2022. The UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine (HRMMU) reported that at least 219 civilians were killed and over 1,000 injured in what it has described as a “deadly wave of missile strikes on densely populated areas of Ukraine.”

As the conflict intensifies, Ukraine’s bold actions inside Russian territory and Russia’s retaliatory strikes continue to shape the future of this deeply entrenched war. The world watches as Kyiv’s resilience and Moscow’s response bring new dimensions to an already complex and devastating conflict.