The surprise Ukrainian invasion of Russia’s Kursk region is intended to create a “buffer zone” between the two countries and further complicate Moscow’s cross-border offensive, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Sunday.
“Our main task in defensive operations now is to destroy as much of Russia’s war potential as possible and to conduct maximum counteroffensives,” Zelensky said in his evening speech, in which he publicly admitted for the first time the true intentions of the offensive.
“This includes the creation of a buffer zone on the territory of the aggressor – our operation in the Kursk region,” Zelensky continued.
Ukrainian forces destroyed a bridge in the area over the weekend and attacked a second in an attempt to cut Russian supply lines. Pro-Kremlin war bloggers have since confirmed that the first attack, targeting a bridge over the Seim River near the Russian village of Glushkovo, was successful. The location and effectiveness of the second attack were not known as of Sunday morning.
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The impact of the reported attacks on Russian infrastructure further complicates a situation that has already forced Moscow onto an unexpected defensive, forcing the country to rethink its strategy along Ukraine’s northeastern border, a region that was largely written off as irrelevant to the conflict just months after it began in 2022.
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“The Ukrainian operation in Kursk Oblast has forced the Kremlin and the Russian military command to decide whether to view the 1,000-kilometer international border with northeastern Ukraine as a legitimate front line that Russia must defend,” George Barros of the Institute for the Study of War previously told Fox News Digital.
“Russia has spent considerable resources building fortifications along the international border,” Barros noted, “but has not provided sufficient personnel and material to adequately man and defend these fortifications.”
Since the operation began on August 6, Ukraine has claimed about 400 square miles of Russian territory.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Source of the original article: Kursk invasion aims to create Russian-Ukrainian “buffer zone,” says Selensky
