Zelenskyy had not mentioned Kyiv’s surprise incursion into Russia before, but the Russian military had said clashes with Ukrainian forces in the Kursk region had been occurring since early Tuesday.
The Ukrainian operation is Kyiv’s deepest penetration into Russian territory since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Russian President Vladimir Putin called the Ukrainian advance “a large-scale provocation.”
Moscow on Saturday was rushing reinforcement troops and military equipment to Kursk and two other regions bordering Ukraine where Kyiv’s forces have pushed its offensive. The Russian government also implemented emergency security measures in the three regions — Bryansk, Belgorod and Kursk.
Russian tanks have taken up firing positions in the Kursk region, the Russian Defense Ministry said, according to a Tass report. Russia was fighting intense skirmishes on Saturday against thousands of Ukrainian troops as deep as 20 kilometers inside the Kursk region, according to media reports.
In Ukraine, the capital of Kyiv and several other areas came under a Russian drone and missile attack in the early hours of Sunday, the BBC reported, citing local officials.
