Ukraine's daring Kursk offensive thwarts Russian plans

Russia wanted to seize Kharkiv and Sumy, said Volodymyr Zelensky in an interview with Indian media. He added that Ukraine stopped the Russians, thanks to the offensive in the Kursk region.

The Ukrainian president, speaking about the offensive in the Kursk region, emphasized that it was not Ukraine that invaded Russia. "The Russian Federation invaded our territory 10 years ago. They occupied and killed people," he reminded.

Zelensky said that the Russians were preparing an offensive in the Kharkiv region to seize the city of Kharkiv. "And today, exactly 1.5 million people live there. Because the Russians entered the Kharkiv region, residents from destroyed villages had to move to the city. Russia wanted to occupy this overcrowded city," he recounted in an interview with journalists.

He revealed that the Russians also planned to seize the city of Sumy. According to information provided by Zelensky, the offensive was to be conducted through the Kursk region. Thanks to the Ukrainian offensive in this Russian region, they managed to thwart the plans of the Russian army. "Everything was already prepared. The difference is that we did it preemptively, so they would not capture our city," he explained.

Since August 6—since the start of the "Kursk operation"—Ukrainian forces seized about 1,200 square kilometres of Russian territory and about 100 localities.

The Ukrainian army entered without major problems because the Russians did not fully anticipate the possibility of an invasion. Even the spring raids conducted in this area by the Russian Volunteer Corps (RVC), the Siberia Battalion, and the "Freedom of Russia" Legion fighting alongside Ukraine were not a warning signal for the Kremlin.