Reuters
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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed for the first time on Monday that Ukrainian troops were active in the Belgorod region in Russia as they seek to protect Ukrainian cities near the border.
Ukrainian troops remain in certain parts of the Russian region close to Kursk eight months after a cross -border foray, although the Russian forces have taken up a much lost territory.
In his night video address, Zelensky said that the best commander in Ukraine, Oleksandr Syrskyi, had a “first line report, our presence in the Kursk region and our presence in the Belgorod region.”
“We continue operations active in enemy border areas and this is absolutely justified. War must come back where it comes from.
“Our main objective remains the same: to protect our land and our communities in the regions of Sumy and Kharkiv against the Russian occupants.”
He subsequently referred to operations in the region by the 225th assault regiment of Ukraine and congratulated the unit for its performance.
Zelensky has repeated Kiev’s Kiev’s pretension that despite the recovery of Kursk areas by Russia in recent weeks, the operation has managed to keep the Russian forces from the main war line in the Ukraine Donetsk region.
“Due to the entire Kursk operation, we have managed to reduce pressure on other first-line sectors, especially in the Donetsk region,” he said.
The President last month rejected obliquely to “certain stages” undertaken by the Ukrainian army in Russia “a little below the Kursk region”, implicitly suggesting a presence in the Belgorod region.
Russian military bloggers had reported battles in the Belgorod region between the Russian and Ukrainian troops.
Russia said on Sunday that its troops had seized the village of Basivka in northeast Sumy in Ukraine – opposite Kursk – and beat Ukrainian forces in various colonies.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly suggested that Russian forces are carving a buffer area along the border.
A Ukrainian military spokesman published a new denial of Basivka in Russian hands on Monday.