Kursk incursion protects Sumy from Russian offensive, Zelensky says.
Ukraine's incursion into Kursk Oblast means there is no threat of a renewed Russian offensive toward the city of Sumy, President Volodymyr Zelensky said at Ramstein airbase in Germany on Sept.
6. "Thanks to our actions, there is no threat to the city of Sumy as was the case in May against Kharkiv," Zelensky said. Zelensky was referring to the offensive Russia launched on May 10 to the northeast of Kharkiv.
Kyrylo Budanov, Ukraine's military intelligence chief, said later in May that Russian forces may launch a similar offensive in Sumy Oblast. Commander-in-Chief of Ukraine's Armed Forces Oleksandr Syrskyi also said in an interview with CNN, published on Sept.
5, that Russia was planning an offensive from Kursk Oblast before Ukrainian forces launched operations there. According to Zelensky, Ukraine's operation in Kursk Oblast has resulted in around 6,000 Russian soldiers being killed or wounded.
Ukraine now controls "a significant part of the territory" consisting of around 100 settlements, Zelensky said. Russia nonetheless continues to deploy its most effective units in Ukraine, primarily Donetsk Oblast, demonstrating a "clear choice by Moscow." "Putin doesn't care about Russian land and people, he just wants to grab as much of our land and as many of our cities as possible," Zelensky said. "He wants our cities, or the ruins that remain of them."
The Kursk incursion also shows that "Russia's attempts to draw red lines simply do not work," Zelensky added. Zelensky previously said on Aug.
19 that Kyiv did not disclose preparations for the operation in Kursk Oblast to its allies because the world might consider it crossing Russia's "strictest of all red lines." The concept of Russia's red lines, "which dominated the assessment of the war by some partners," crumbled "somewhere near Sudzha," Zelensky said.
What the fall of Pokrovsk would mean for Russia's war in Ukraine
As Russian troops approach Pokrovsk, fear mounts over a possible loss of what had long been a key logistic hub tucked away in safety in Donetsk Oblast.
The war has arrived in Pokrovsk, once home to 60,000 people, with the Russians estimated to be about eight kilometers away.
Thousands