Ukraine’s Kursk incursion was a preemptive strike to prevent Russia from creating a buffer zone in the north, Zelenskyi said in an interview with NBC News. He explained that Ukraine doesn’t need Russian land, and the Kursk incursion aims to restore the country’s territorial integrity. The Kursk operation is part of Ukraine’s victory plan, he also said. Ukraine’s parliament endorses a new foreign minister.
Kursk incursion was a preemptive strike to prevent Russia from creating buffer zone in north, Zelenskyi says
Ukraine received reports from its domestic intelligence and allies’ intelligence services that Russia was looking to set up a buffer zone in the border area, possibly in Ukraine’s Sumy and Chernihiv regions. A lack of long-range weapons and absence of authorization to use them on targets inside Russia made Ukraine think of an alternative to prevent such a scenario. This led to the Kursk incursion, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi said in an interview with NBC News that was released earlier this week. A full Ukrainian version of it was put online on Thursday.
“A lack of long-range capabilities made us think hard. Every second we thought: what’s the alternative? That resulted in an operation in the Kursk region, a successful operation,” Zelenskyi said.
“Putin and his inner circle openly stated that they want to build a buffer zone along our border, some kilometers deep inside our country. It was clear that they won’t stop. (…) We realized that we need to conduct an operation so that the buffer zone was made not by them, but by us,” the Ukrainian President said.
“We had an understanding that if they break through our border into Sumy region, opposite Kursk, it will take us very long to stop them and then push them out. We’ll need to have superiority in troops and weapons. There’s no certainty that we’ll have it. So we made a preemptive strike that was designed as an operation,” Zelenskyi said.
Besides, Russia had to divert troops to Kursk from other sections of the frontline in Ukraine. “One of the goals of the Kursk operation was to force Russia to redeploy their forces to their territory. They have massed around 60,000 troops there. They have pulled them back from some areas that threatened to become difficult for us, because we didn’t have the weapons that were part of the military aid packages,” he said.
Ukraine doesn’t need Russian land, Kursk incursion to help restore country’s territorial integrity, Zelenskyi says
Ukraine doesn’t need Russian land, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi said in an interview with NBC News. Ukraine’s Kursk incursion is aimed to restore the country’s territorial integrity, he explained.
“We don’t need Russian land. Our operation is aimed to restore our territorial integrity. We don’t need their people, their civilians, their citizens. We take their troops prisoner to exchange them for ours,” Zelenskyi said.
“We don’t need their land. We don’t want to bring our Ukrainian way of life there. I say this because I understand international law and have respect for state sovereignty. Ukraine is a state that respects rules and laws. But we must act adequately today to be stronger. This operation strengthens the country. It does not mean that we will swap one piece of land for another,” he added.
Ukraine has captured 600 prisoners of war so far during its incursion into Russia’s Kursk region. “Not their civilians, we are not looters or murderers. We do not act like Russians when they came to us and killed civilians, took them prisoner and tortured them. We took 600 troops prisoner, including officers, Kadyrov’s Chechen fighters and others. We will exchange them for our guys,” Zelenskyi said.
He said Ukrainian forces are planning to hold territory in the Kursk region for an unspecified period of time.
Kursk operation is part of Ukraine’s victory plan, Zelenskyi says
Ukraine’s Kursk incursion is part of the country’s victory plan, President Zelenskyi said in an interview with NBC News. The plan’s implementation depends on Ukraine and its allies. Russia has no role in it.
“I wanted to show the victory plan to President Biden, but only after our success in the Kursk region. That’s why I didn’t do it before, but will definitely do it now. [It represents] our understanding of how Ukraine can win,” Zelenskyi said.
The plan was designed to be implemented with the help of Ukraine’s allies, and doesn’t count on Russia’s willingness, he said.
“It was very important for me to avoid a situation when in a dialogue someone would suggest considering whether Russia will accept it or not. The plan doesn’t depend on them. Our allies have to choose whether they agree to Ukraine’s victory or whether they are just ready to contain Putin,” he said.
Zelenskyi reiterated that the Ukrainian incursion into Kursk region is an aspect of a wider operation that is “the first part” of Ukraine’s victory plan.
Ukraine’s parliament endorses new foreign minister
On Thursday, Ukraine’s parliament formalized the appointment of several ministers, continuing the reshuffle that began earlier this week. It has endorsed, among others, the ministers who deal with foreign policy.
The parliament has approved the appointment of Andriy Sybiha, currently deputy foreign minister, as the new foreign minister, replacing Dmytro Kuleba.
Olha Stefanishyna will become also Justice Minister while keeping her post as Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration of Ukraine.
Celebrating Korea’s Independence Day: highlighting unity with Ukraine. Ukraine in Flames #659
On August 15, South Korea celebrated the day of the movement for independence from colonial Japanese occupation. The movement of Koreans for independence is consonant with the struggle of Ukrainians against the hostile actions of the Russian Federation, which for centuries has been trying to enslave the Ukrainian people and seize Ukrainian territories. Watch Ukraine in Flames #659 to find out about promoting the strengthening of cultural ties between Ukraine and South Korea and emphasize the role of art in building international friendship and cooperation.
Guests:
- Karacin Jr., singer
- Hwang Kyu Beck, artist and documentary filmmaker
- Singer of the group “Himichi”
- Leniye Ibrahimova, Crimean Tatar artist, public figure, volunteer, ideologue of the public initiative “MQ community”