Kyiv:
Ukraine said Tuesday it would not hold onto Russian territory it seized in a surprise border incursion and offered to call off the assault if Russia agreed to a “just peace”.
Ukrainian forces invaded Russia’s Kursk region last Tuesday and seized more than 20 settlements, the largest attack by a foreign force on Russian territory since World War II. Russia said on Tuesday it had repelled a new attack in Kursk.
More than 120,000 people have been evacuated from the area, and Ukrainian military commander Oleksandr Shirsky said on Monday his forces had gained control of about 1,000 square kilometres (620 sq mi) of Russian territory.
At least 800 square kilometres were under Ukrainian control as of Monday, according to an AFP analysis of data from the US-based Institute for War Studies.
Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesman Georgy Tykh said on Tuesday that Kiev had no interest in “occupying” Russian territory and defended Ukraine’s actions as “fully legitimate.”
“The sooner Russia agrees to the restoration of a just peace, the sooner the attacks by Ukrainian defense forces into Russia will stop,” he told reporters.
Meanwhile, Ukraine said it was imposing movement restrictions within 20 kilometres of Sumy Oblast along the border with Kursk Oblast, citing an “intensification of hostilities” and “subversive activities”.
The Russian Defense Ministry said it had “thwarted” a new Ukrainian offensive in Kursk, in which “enemy task forces in armored vehicles attempted to penetrate deep into Russian territory.”
Alexander Bortnikov, head of Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB), also said in a statement that Ukraine had carried out the attack “with the support of the entire Western powers”.
– “I saw a lot of death.” –
Since launching its invasion in February 2022, Russia has occupied territory in southern and eastern Ukraine and bombarded Ukrainian cities with a barrage of missiles and drones.
The Ukrainian attack was Russia’s biggest cross-border action since the invasion and took Russia by surprise.
“They did not defend the border,” a Ukrainian soldier who took part in the attack and gave his name as Ruzhik told AFP in Sumy region.
“All they had were anti-personnel mines scattered around the trees on the side of the road and a few mines quickly thrown along the highway,” he said.
A 27-year-old squad leader who gave his name as Pharaon spoke candidly but frankly about the fighting at Kursk.
“In the first few days I saw a lot of death. It was scary at first but then I got used to it,” he told AFP.
“There are a lot of deaths,” he repeated, without elaborating, standing beside the forestry road leading to the border.
“Russian complacency won out,” Ukrainian military analyst Mykola Byerieskov told AFP.
“Russia assumed that Ukraine would not dare do what we have seen because it is taking the initiative elsewhere,” he said, referring to months of Russian military advances on the front lines.
ISW figures also show that Russian forces have occupied 1,360 square kilometers of Ukrainian territory since the beginning of 2024.
– “Sowing discord” –
Russian President Vladimir Putin has vowed to “drive out” Ukrainian forces.
“One of the enemy’s clear aims is to sow discord and destroy the unity and cohesion of Russian society,” Putin said in a televised meeting with officials on Monday.
Putin also said Ukraine wanted to “improve its negotiating position” for upcoming talks with Moscow.
Oblast governor Alexei Smirnov told the meeting that Ukrainian forces had penetrated at least 12 kilometers into the area, making the new front line 40 kilometers wide.
Russia had earlier acknowledged that Ukrainian forces had advanced up to 30 kilometers (20 miles) into Russian territory.
A Ukrainian security official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told AFP over the weekend that Ukraine was “trying to destabilise the situation in Russia, which is unable to defend its own borders, expand the enemy’s positions and inflict maximum damage”.
Ukrainian officials said the operation involved several thousand Ukrainian soldiers.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)